Eternal Blood: The Band of Heroes
by Haunt Shallows
Summary: Young Nightshade is rescued from prison, only to find herself mixed in a dangerous plot to destroy the world. With the help of her new friends, she travels Cyrodiil to save the world, only to find that there is more to the danger than there seems...
1. Chapter 1: A Life less Ordinary

Eternal Blood: The Band of Heroes

Prologue

Tamriel: a place of both order and chaos, an empire ruled by the Septim family, a nation of many countries. It is mystical, enchanting, and overall dangerous. The mysteries of nature and magic lie in every corner of the mostly-rural empire. Discoveries are made, gods are worshipped, good battles evil, and nothing is what it seems.

Now focuses a certain place in the heart of the bewildering world. It is many of nature's colors, with snowy mountains to the north, gold plains to the west, green swamps to the south, and green forest to the east. However, in its center is the most eye-catching spectacle, an island in the center of a round lake that branches off into rivers. On this island is a huge, glistening white city, shrouded in the darkness of the night, and soon rained upon from the heavens. It's an architectural dream of perfect circles and columns that have been standing for centuries and yet look brand new. In its center is a large tower, perhaps more than sixty stories high, the Imperial Palace itself, where the emperor waits out the last of his days.

In the very front of the city, to the west, near the stables, a cloaked figure runs through the rain, its black robe getting drenched with the raindrops from the lightning above. It carries a bundle of what looks to be a bunch of blankets, its hands careful not to get it wet or drop it, and it approaches the gigantic wooden gates that lead inside the city, thrice as tall as it.

It knocks loudly, and if it weren't raining and thundering, everyone in the Talos Plaza District on the other side would've heard it. However, a guard asleep on top of the gates didn't even hear it, or hear them open to reveal a woman, perhaps in her forties, take the bundle away from the figure and mumble, "She'll be safe here."

An empire of mysteries, of prophecies, of fates intertwined, where nothing is as it seems. Welcome to the world of Tamriel.

* * *

Chapter 1: A Life Less Ordinary

"Get up you worthless bag of bones!"

Nightshade opened her red eyes and rubbed them. She groaned a little and looked into the face of her aggressor. It belonged to the Redguard Owyn, who was bending over her and snarling into her face. "If you don't get up, no dinner for you!"

She frowned. Dinner was hardly dinner anyway.

"Hurry up and get going, you lazy slag!"

Nightshade rose to her feet, rising out of the bedroll made for her. She yawned, stretched, and headed for the small, squishy latrine just to the left of the entrance "hall", if one could call it that.

She looked at her fourteen-year-old self in the dirty mirror, grimy with mold and dust, much like herself. Her rags needed cleaning and her bright red hair needed washing. Around her neck was a silver amulet with a black stone embedded in it, dulled by dust and tarnish. She looked odd, even for a dark elf. Most had grayish-blue skin, but hers was jet-black, and most had dark hair, while hers was a vibrant red. Her eyes were even darker than others. Perhaps that's why she was here: in the Bloodworks of the Imperial City arena, in the small province of Cyrodill, in the big empire of Tamriel.

Nightshade briskly combed her hair back and tied it with a small, old ribbon that was thin and purple. Perhaps she'd visit the showers today after getting the chores done. She then snorted in disgust. The chores were never done here. If Owyn couldn't find something for her to do, the old hag Ysabel Andronicus would. So she grabbed a bucket by the door with a rag and some water and headed back into the Bloodworks for the first chore of the day: scrubbing the floor.

She started at exactly six a.m. and ended three hours later, for it was hard to clean and make the place intimidating at the same time. Nightshade thought there was no point, but there was nothing she could do about it.

At nine, she polished and sharpened the swords and axes used by the arena combatants; none of them had an owner for more than a week. The ones used by the champions were not left on the stands and were always with them. It was less work anyway, so no complaints from her.

At twelve noon, she walked out of the Bloodworks and into the busy Imperial City to run errands, and that's when Nightshade's boring life changed.

* * *

Nightshade walked through the gate leading into the Market Place, a list of things to buy in her hands. She mentally said them in her head—oranges, apples, ham, venison, watermelon, and one slab of boar meat, which Owyn liked to stash for himself on Fredas. The gold jingled in her worn pocket, which was more than enough for the food. Every time there was extra cash, she would save it in a barrel near the arena entrance. She had enough to treat herself to something today, where she could hide it there.

Walking down the street sometimes slightly unnerved her. She didn't mind being alone, but she could feel people staring at her. She walked off the sidewalk and into the street where there were less people. Then—"Oomph!"

Someone smaller had collided with her, his head hitting her in the chin. She fell backward, and at first she thought her coins had fallen out of her pocket. "Hey!" she snapped at the boy, perhaps younger than her, but he wasn't paying attention. He was looking behind him, then at the ground, where the bag he was carrying had opened and let out a bunch of coins on the street, plus jewels and jewelry.

"What's your problem?!" Nightshade tried to get his attention, very annoyed. "What—" She stopped because the boy was picking everything up and putting them back in the bag. "Hello? Do you know you just smashed into me?!"

The gate slammed behind her and there were heavy footsteps. The boy, obviously flustered, forced the bag into her hands and ran down an alley. Confused, she watched him go, and then—

"Caught you red handed!"

* * *

One word went through Nightshade's mind—fuck.

She sat in her small cell, waiting for the hours to pass. No matter how many times she tried to tell the guards, "I swear a boy gave them to me!" they wouldn't believe her. They threatened to hang her if she didn't confess, and she wasn't going to. How could have there been no witnesses? If she wasn't hanged, Owyn would kill her, and she'd rather be hanged than have her blood all over the Bloodworks.

"You're going to die in here, young dunmer." Gods, how many times did he have to say that? The male dark elf from the cell across from her, apparently named Valen Dreth, had been ranting at her ever since the guards closed the prison door. She had retorted he would too, but he didn't listen. He was a common nutcase.

The cell was claustrophobic and damp. Roots and mold covered the gray stones. The table was small and the stool broken. But Nightshade didn't care. She was used to this. Heck, as long as she wasn't in the Bloodworks, she was happy.

Suddenly, the door to the prison opened, and a female's voice was heard. "…we have to get you to safety." The group came into view. Three wore similar armor. Two were Redguards and one was the female Breton. But it was the man behind them that fascinated Nightshade the most.

He was old, with dark gray hair and a wrinkled, yet understanding, face. His robes were of purple and red velvet, with a speckled fur collar and a large, diamond-shaped red stone. She had never seen him before, and yet she felt like she knew him, perhaps in a dream.

The Breton opened her cell door, to her surprise. She scowled at her. "What's this prisoner doing here? This cell was supposed to be off limits."

"An unusual mix-up at the guard, Captain, I'm sure," the younger of the two Redguards said, and then turned to face Nightshade. The Breton made a noise at the back of her throat.

"Fine, we don't have much time. Stand back, prisoner, we won't hesitate to kill you."

Nightshade stepped back under the small window and next to the broken stool. The Breton, presumably Captain, pushed in one of the stones. Nightshade was in shock. She could've been out of there in seconds, for the bedroll that had been there sunk into the ground as the wall shifted downward, revealing a long hallway into what looked to be a dungeon.

"You…" She jumped at the soft voice of the old man. "I've seen you, in my dreams. Then the stars are right, and today is the day."

"Sorry?" Nightshade was confused again. "What day? Who are you?"

"I'm the emperor Uriel Septim VII. Why you are here is not important. The gods were right." He turned into the tunnel after the Captain, a distant look of sadness in his eyes. The older Redguard sneered at her. "You're free to come."

She watched them disappear, and then followed down the dark passageway, unaware of what was to happen next.


	2. Chapter 2: Assassins in the Passageway

Chapter 2: Assassins in the Secret Passageway

Nightshade couldn't believe her dumb luck. An adventure, finally! She wondered what was going on and where this tunnel led, for she had no weapon.

The young Dark Elf had caught up with the guards and Emperor Uriel Septim. They looked alert.

The mushy tunnel had ended at what looked to be ruins of sorts. Nightshade was uneducated, so she asked the Emperor, "Where are we?"

"These are ancient Ayleid ruins from before the empire. They were inhabited by Ayleid High Elves before they went extinct, you could say. The Imperial City itself is a sort of ruin, and is sitting on top of one."

"Wow." Columns and parts of walls had fallen to the ground, but it was stable, or at least what was standing was stable. Everything was made of white marble and still shined even with the little torchlight, like they had absorbed the light that had once been there.

Just as Nightshade had finished looking at everything in awe, there was a clang of metal and an, "Arrg!" from the Captain ahead. A person had lunged at her from atop, and soon two more joined him.

The men, or presumably men, were dressed in odd armor. It was some sort of dark metal with designs and holes. Beneath it was some sort of red suit, but all of them were wearing the same helmets that masked their faces well.

The older Redguard, named Glenroy, was fighting with Baurus, the other guard, against another person. The other was killed by the Emperor rather skillfully.

The dunmer watched in a stupefied shock as the three ambushers were killed. She had seen dead bodies plenty of times before at the arena, but never so close and in so much detail. As the others began to move forward she noticed that the Captain was among those lifeless on the ground. With mixed feelings she picked up her slightly bent sword called an Akaviri Katana and decided to use it to survive the rest of this journey.

"Ok, prisoner, don't follow us anymore. For all we know, you can be working with these assassins." Glenroy growled, and disappeared behind a door. The Emperor looked at her, then followed suit with Baurus. Gods, so many questions and yet her source of answers had abandoned her.

She stumbled around the ruin for a while, admiring the marble. Tiles had been lifted out of the floor, revealing dirt underneath, and there were indentations in the white walls, like arches.

Nightshade suddenly heard a loud bang near a wall the door was next to. She jumped to see two huge, filthy rats. These weren't city rats she'd seen that could be killed with a frying pan. No, these were huge. Standing on their hind legs they probably reach her hip or higher.

It was too late to hide. The rats had caught her scent, and pounced at her. She drew her sword and jumped back, avoiding the large, dirty claws and the pointed fangs. She slashed wildly, slicing one, but the other kept jumping back. She needed a better plan.

The Akaviri Katana stopped as Nightshade got a better grip. She held it in front of her with both hands, threatening the rat to come any closer. It bared its fangs and jumped, but she was just as quick. The sword slashed its neck, and then she ended its life with a stab upward.

Nightshade really liked this blade, and decided to go through the tunnel the rat made.

The tunnel led to a sort of cave filled with mosses and mold but mostly dirt. It seemed like someone dug it out and used wood planks to support it. It was dark, so she had to stumble around, and then she found a hole, similar to the one she went through, that led back to a ruined room made of white marble. She jumped down onto a raised sort of platform, making a path in the middle, and on the path were the Emperor, Glenroy, and Baurus. She wondered if they would notice her, until something rushed past her to the path below.

It was another ambush from people that looked exactly like the last. This time, feeling she had more confidence, she jumped into battle and started swooshing the katana around. One of the assassins got her shoulder, so she was forced to block all the other moves, until Baurus saved her.

"Another attack," Glenroy snarled, and then noticed Nightshade. "It's that prisoner again. Kill her; she might be working for the assassins!"

"No!" The Emperor stepped up. "She is on our side." He turned to look at her. "They do not understand what I've seen."

"What have you seen? Who are these assassins? What is this place? Why are you ditching the city? Why—" Nightshade was cut off when the Emperor raised his hand.

He sighed. "You deserve to know. I have had—dreams about today, that lead to my fate. Today is the day I join the Gods."

Nightshade eyes widened. "What? You mean, you're going to die?"

He nodded. "Yes, but not you. You will live on to save Cyrodiil, for my sons have been killed by these assassins I hardly know about. The Imperial City isn't safe for me, so the Blades urged me to leave, but it's already too late for me."

Nightshade felt terrible, but he went on. "What sign of the stars are you born under?"

"The Shadow."

"Really? Then may the Shadow guide you."

The Emperor turned away to talk to Glenroy, who looked annoyed. Nightshade wondered if the Shadow would protect her. She didn't even know if she was born under the Shadow, the stars that were above the sky the night you were born. She had asked Owyn once, when she heard one of the local city people talk about it. But he was sort of fidgety that day. He seemed nervous talking about it, so he could've been lying.

"All right," Baurus had walked up to her, his brown face was higher than hers, but by a smidge. "Keep this torch to make yourself useful."

"What are the Blades?" she asked. He looked at her oddly. "We are the Emperor's body guards, protectorates of the Dragon Fires."

"Dragon Fires?"

"You've never heard of them?" She shook her head. "Well, they're the eternal fires that must be lit by having an emperor. If Uriel Septim dies, so do the Dragon Fires."

"Ah." Well, that must've been pressuring.

"Come on," Glenroy called to them, and the two ran to catch up to the Emperor and Glenroy.

They walked on in silence, their footsteps eerily echoing off the walls. Nightshade held the torch close, nervous that anything could attack at any moment.

Glenroy walked up to a gate made of rusted iron. He tried to open it, but failed.

"Damn, it's barred on the other side."

"A trap," Baurus started to look around, but noticed a different passage. "We'll have to go down there."

Glenroy frowned, but nodded. The Emperor was quiet. Nightshade thought he was worried if his end was down that hallway.

They walked the place narrow and claustrophobic. She bit her lip, scared, knowing they all wouldn't make it. There had to be an ambush at the end of the hall.

They walked through a large room, then came up to a small room with another hallway. "We're close now," Baurus said, but then he was barreled over. The assassins had finally struck.

"Stay here and protect the Emperor," Glenroy commanded her, then shouted, "For the Emperor!" and charged into battle.

Emperor Uriel Septim spoke to her. "My time has come. You are the only hope of Cyrodiil now. Take this," he took off his red, diamond-shaped stone and gave it to her. "This is the Amulet of Kings. You must take it to Jauffre. He knows where my last son is. The jaws of Oblivion have opened and the Lord of Destruction is ready."

"No, wait—"

An archway behind the Emperor had opened, and an assassin stepped silently out.

Everything suddenly seemed to move slowly with every movement exaggerated by time. Nightshade began to feel sick and light-headed.

The assassin silently slit the throat of the Emperor. He fell, his velvet robes stained with blood. He fell, the floor soon turned red. Nightshade blinked, the assassin was charging at her now. Something in the back of her mind told her "Take out the sword! Take out the sword!" but it was too faint. She was going to die. She was going to die…

No. She opened her eyes to see Baurus run in and stab him in the heart, where the armor deteriorated and red robes showed.

After a minute or so, Nightshade just felt shaky and shocked. Glenroy never came back in. Baurus checked the Emperor's pulse.

"I've failed. We've failed…" he muttered. "We were supposed to keep the Emperor safe, and now he's dead." He looked at his chest. "The Amulet of Kings? Where is it?"

"He gave it to me," Nightshade held out the red pendent.

"Hmm, he saw something in you, trusted you. What's your name?"

"Nightshade. He told me to find Jauffre, for he knows where the last heir is."

"Jauffre? He's the Blade's Grandmaster, highest rank. He is in Weynon Priory near Chorrol, and if there is another heir, he'd know.

"Here, take this key. It leads to the sewers, and the sewers lead out. I will stay here to protect the Emperor's body."

"Thanks," Nightshade took the small key. "Good luck."

"Same to you." Baurus watched her go through the secret passageway, looking sad at the Emperor's body, and disappeared out of the ruins.


	3. Chapter 3: The Start of a New Life

Chapter 3: The Start of a New Life

Nightshade inhaled the cool air as she closed the sewer gate behind her. She was glad to leave the green, smelly, damp sewer that had been crawling with rats and crabs. But she was even happier because she was finally out of the city, out of the Bloodworks, out of the Imperial City.

The sun was past noon, somewhere around four o'clock. The light beach trees swayed with the gentle wind as she stood on a pebbly, sand-colored beach. She knew where she was, or at least had an idea. The prison mustn't have been far up the hill behind her, but she was on the Rumare Lake beach.

The Rumare Lake surrounded the Imperial City like a sort of moat. She knew this because she had seen it on an old map in one of the shops. It was fantastic to see the water in person, a dark blue that hardly moved.

There was a pier not too far from where she stood. She walked on it, feeling like it would break underneath her. Yet she felt a sense of safeness here, so she sat on the end and looked out across the water. There was some sort of ruin that resembled the Ayleid ruin in the distance where the Emperor died—

The Emperor was dead. Disbelief filled her as she stared into the water. So much had happened that day that she wasn't sure how to really feel. She held out the Amulet of Kings, the red diamond-shaped pendent, which had been in her pocket, and then carefully put it back, remembering the Emperor's last words and Baurus's advice. If she didn't go to Weynon Priory and find this Jauffre then the empire would surely collapse. But she couldn't go with these shackles on.

Nightshade tried slipping her hands out of the iron, but it was no use. She decided to crack them.

She looked around the beach for a hard rock. She ran into a crab and simply stepped on it, tired of whacking the crustaceans with the Akaviri Katana. Baurus thankfully had been too preoccupied to notice she had it.

Nightshade grabbed a smooth stone off the edge of the water and started banging away at her wrists against a tree, which didn't work. She remembered how the sewer floor she had come out of was made of stone, and went back there.

Her wrists were red by the time the shackles came off, and her left one was bleeding. She ripped the bottom of her shirt and wrapped it several times tightly around the wrist. She then remembered how her hair needed washing and, remembering how the sewer water was green, she decided Rumare Lake was better than the baths. They probably used this water anyway.

After she came out, it was six o'clock, and the sun was starting to set. She put on her clothes, strapped on both swords, and headed up the hill behind the sewer exit.

She walked near the city wall for a while, but she really didn't have a choice. The island was small, and the city wasn't much smaller. She ran into a wolf and got bit on her left hand, but it was not incredibly bad. She simply washed it in the Rumare, slowly and rather dejectedly, for her fatigue was beginning to catch up to her.

By the time she got to the bridge that led to the mainland the sun was halfway down. She looked across. Finally, off the island, freedom…

"Stop right there!"

Nightshade turned, her red hair slapped at her face. There was a figure in a blue cloak leaning idly against the wall of a horse stable on the other side of the pebbled road. He didn't look like a farmhand, but it didn't matter; he wasn't the one that had yelled.

The guard standing right outside the main city gate was approaching her. "Who are you? Are you the girl from the Bloodworks that got arrested?"

She blinked and just stared, petrified. It seemed obvious that Valen Dreth had told the guards she escaped with some utter lie. And now Owyn probably bribed the guards to find her.

"Right. Come with me to the prison…"

She struggled. No, she wouldn't be a slave anymore. She yanked her arm out of his strong grasp.

"Hey, if you resist I'll be forced to hurt you."

"He'll hurt me!" she said, feeling like she would cry. This was all too much; she was so close to freedom.

Then the cloaked figure, his eyes concealed by his hood, stood between them. "Hey, she's free. Can't you handle that? How could the guards not see her walk out of prison?"

The guard grimaced with an instant dislike for the figure. He sounded vaguely familiar to Nightshade.

"I don't know," the guard reached out to grab her again. The guy grabbed his arm and pushed it away. The guard unsheathed his sword from his hilt, but then he looked confused.

The cloaked guy had muttered something, some sort of incantation or spell. He drew his large cloak around her, which seemed hard for him because he was shorter.

"This way," he whispered, and led her across the bridge. "Don't make a sound."

"What's going on?" She turned to look at him, but he was invisible.

So it was a spell, an invisibility spell. He kept muttering something every few seconds as he walked onwards across the bridge. The guard followed his first instinct and searched towards the farm.

Nightshade stepped down onto the dirt. Her rescuer adjusted his cloak and she saw they were in a small settlement. There were only two buildings, both ragged. One looked like someone's home and had a lone sheep falling asleep, and the other had a sign with a moon.

She was about to approach it when he grabbed her arm. "Hey!" she hissed, but he jumped over the small wall that surrounded the house with the sheep. It didn't look up at them.

"Look, I'm grateful you rescued me, but," Nightshade watched him peer over the fence, "what's going on?"

The guard ran past and cursed. They listened, and soon he walked back towards the bridge.

"Can we go now?" Nightshade whispered. He peered over again, the silently jumped over the fence. "I don't think he can see us. Come on."

They snuck hastily to the other building, but she got to read the sign. "The Wawnet Inn," she muttered, and then she was pulled in.

The inside was quaint with a bar and about three tables with candles on them. There was an upstairs, but she couldn't see up them.

"Oh, it's you." The tall High Elf behind the bar said to Nightshade's rescuer. "I know what the answer's going to be, but did you bring me any Shadowbanish wine?"

"Sorry, I've had no time to explore any forts, but I promise I will, Nerussa." He grinned under his hood and he took it off. It was then Nightshade wanted to hack his head off.

It was the boy that had knocked her over before she was sent to jail. He had soft blue skin and red eyes, much like any Dark Elf, but his hair went neatly to his shoulders like she had never seen, and his bangs went to the sides. "You!"

"Yeah, people seem to call me that a lot," he looked at her. "Hey, but people don't know me."

"You are the one that got me in jail in the first place!" Nightshade's cheeks burned. The High Elf Nerussa watched, wondering if she should do something before it got ugly.

"Eh?"

"I'm the one you bumped into! The one you blamed for stealing a bunch of money!"

He was thinking, a puzzled look on his face, and then he looked bright. "Oh yeah, I didn't get a good look at you, but I remember the hair."

She looked like she was about to explode, but the boy turned to Nerussa. "We'll just seat ourselves. First date, she's a little weird."

Nightshade swung her fist in anger, but he ducked. "All right, all right, let's go and we can talk."

She followed reluctantly to a table near a corner to the right, on the wall where the door was. He sat closest to the corner. There were only two chairs, so she had to sit facing him.

"Ok, let's start this by introducing ourselves. I'm Ice, or that's my nickname…" he looked at Nightshade's angry expression. His smile turned into a scowl. "What's your problem? So I got you into jail. At least you got out. I didn't even get the money."

"I was harassed by an annoying cell mate and a guard. My… _guardian _is looking for me and I've got no where to go!"

"Then go back to your pitiful life in the city."

At this, she bit her lip. "No."

"Then stop complaining and tell me your name."

"I hardly know you."

"I _saved_ you!"

She absorbed this retort reluctantly. "Fine. If you must know, I'm Nightshade."

"Nightshade?" Ice snickered a little. "Like the poison?"

"Yeah, like the poison, smart ass." This wasn't the first time she was referred to the deadly flower. Almost every new arena combatant did, and each time she got really annoyed.

"Hey, you can be Deadly Nightshade, although you'd have to really live up to it, because what I've seen out of you you're hardly deadly."

"Yeah, and you're certainly nothing like ice."

"Cold," Ice looked behind her at the counter. "I'm thirsty. You?"

She nodded and sunk further into the seat. God, how did this all happen? Could she trust this Ice? He seemed charming, but he was a thief, and a greedy one at that.

In the minute he was gone, Nightshade tried her best to gain her bearings, but wasn't triumphant. She looked confused when handed the wine. "Do you like wine?" Ice was holding a beer, which was in a thicker bottle with not much of a neck. She shrugged and tasted a drop. Not bad, but she had lost her appetite trying to gather all her thoughts.

"So, where're you from?"

She glared at him, "The Imperial City."

"Really? Where?"

"The Arena. I used to work, no, _slave_, in the Bloodworks."

"Oh," Ice took a swig from his beer. "So, I guess you don't know much then."

She shook her head. "What about you?"

"Well, if you must know, my real name's Repice Enangui. I'm from Vvardenfell and am currently working to get access into the Arcane University through the Mages Guild. I'm quite good at magic."

Nightshade turned her bottle made of the same glass as his beer, then looked a little disgusted. "I do know beer is bad for someone your age."

He shrugged, and then looked suspiciously "How old do you think I am?"

"Thirteen."

He gave a shout of laughter. "Thirteen? Sera, I'm older than that."

"Sera?" she looked confused. He looked annoyed. "Sera. That's what we Dunmer from Vvardenfell call girls. Serjo is for guys. It's like a sort of second name, I guess."

"Fine. Fourteen."

"Higher."

"Fifteen?"

"Higher."

"Twenty!"

"No, I was only kidding. I am thirteen going on fourteen next month." He laughed cruelly, in a way a prankster does. Nightshade grabbed her bottle right before he said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I can't resist a joke."

"No you're not." Her black face showed a little color, but she put the bottle down. Self-control was all she needed.

"So, tell me more about you." Nightshade wanted all the bad things he could say so maybe she could get back at him.

"Well, I lived in Vvardenfell most of my life. My parents liked to explore Daedra shrines all around the island," he didn't need to look at her face to tell she didn't know what Daedra shrines were. "Daedra are sort of evil gods, or at least some of them are. In Vvardenfell, we worship them, because some can be good. So, there are these ancient shrines all around Vvardenfell where the natives used to worship them before temples. Now, bandits and outlaws use them for hideouts, and some weird, crazy magician people who try to bring back the Daedra, but mostly end up bringing out a beast, like a Clannfear or a Scamp. You need to see one to know what I'm talking about.

"Well, my parents were unfortunate enough to come across one of these maniacs, and I was fortunate enough not to be with them. Five days later, I got news they were killed. So, two years later, I come to Cyrodiil for a new beginning..."

Ice was staring at his bottle, his mind lost. The silence was unbearable to Nightshade, so she said, "It's ok, I'm an orphan too."

He grinned. "Well, enough about that. Now, I'm working to become a mage! My strengths lie in illusion and alteration. I'm really trying to work on my mysticism and restoration. You got a taste of what I could do."

"You can make yourself invisible. Is that it?" Nightshade's face said unimpressed all over it, and she decided to take a drink of wine. It wasn't too bad.

"No! I can breathe underwater, protect, create light, and make people like me. But they don't last long. I'm an apprentice in both, but I'm better in illusion. Want to know why?"

She nodded, but Ice sat back and looked at her. "How _did_ you get out of jail? I'm not telling you a secret if you don't tell me one."

"It's nothing special…" Nightshade looked at her wine and took another drink. "Promise to tell it to me if I tell you?"

"As the Nine Divines as my witnesses, yes."

She spun the bottle around, staring at the shine of the glass, and repeated her story to Ice. She told him all about the Emperor and the assassins, how they got attacked frequently, and the assassination of the Emperor. She even showed him the Amulet of Kings.

"Alright, I've kept my side of the bargain, now it's your turn."

Ice looked a little shocked, for if she hadn't of shown him the Amulet he wouldn't have believed her. "Can I look at that?"

"No!"

He snorted and pouted, but he started talking. "See, I'm good in illusion because thieves are. That's my star sign, the thief. I don't plan on making my fortune in that guild. I'm trying to get in the thieves guild, where the Gray Fox leads. I heard if you go to jail for stealing you can get here. So, I tried to steal, made the guards see me, but I chickened out."

"Who told you about this thieves guild? Isn't that a myth?"

"No! The beggars know! Hieronymus Lex knows! Now _I _want to know!"

Nightshade rolled her eyes, not wanting to know who this Lex was. "Well, if it is true, then they'll probably come for me."

Ice's face suddenly looked sly as he smirked. "Yeah, they will, won't they?"

She looked at him. "What?"

"Well, I'll just stick with you until they come and ask if I can join!"

She laughed. "Oh yeah, they just let anyone in."

"I'm serious!"

Well, she did need help to the priory, and she might need information. He just might prove useful. "Ok, but we have to get to Weynon Priory."

"Fine with me." He looked out a window to see the sun had completely gone. He yawned. "Well, I have a room with all my stuff here. You can stay with me."

"Can't I get a different room?" Nightshade got up with Ice.

"Have ten gold pieces to spare?"

She frowned. She was completely broke because the guards had taken all her money when they arrested her. The only things they had let her keep were her clothes and her amulet. "I'll sleep on the floor."

"Oh please, I'm not that mean. You can sleep in the bed and I'll get a sleeping bag out for me." They started walking up the stairs into a small hallway with three doors on the right wall. They walked all the way to the last one where Ice unlocked it and entered.

It was small and musky with an old chest and drawers. The bed was small, and when Ice pulled out a large backpack and dug for his sleeping bag, Nightshade didn't know where she'd be rather sleeping. However, she climbed into the old, creaking bed and fell asleep only seconds later.


	4. Chapter 4: The Weynon Priory Journey

Chapter 4: The Weynon Priory Journey

It was six o'clock in the morning when Nightshade opened her eyes. She had a dreamless sleep, which was a change for her. She rubbed her eyes and brushed her hair out of her eyes.

At first, she wasn't sure where she was, but it came back to her after a few seconds. After staring at the door in front of the bed, she looked down to where Ice had been sleeping. Confused to see the floor abandoned, she feebly got out of bed and did her hair without a mirror. She felt around her hair to make sure the ponytail was strait.

"Rise and shine!" Nightshade jumped a little at the sound of Ice's voice. "My night was great thanks. Breakfast? Sure, why not? Still sane? Great…" He started to rummage through the chest at the foot of the bed and the rest of his words were lost. He grumbled a curse and pulled out a large back pack. "Here, I think the food is in the first pocket there, but it's probably smashed…"

Nightshade reluctantly started to look in the pocket, nervous about what she might find there. She pulled out a loaf of bread and a head of lettuce, while the rest was just a mix of juice at the bottom. Ice took the bread, but ripped it in half and gave some to her. She pulled off some lettuce leaves and chewed on them.

"So, what are we doing today?" Nightshade pulled off a piece of bread.

"We are going to Weynon Priory, like you said to meet Jauffre. That amulet won't be safe with us. It'll take a while to get there on foot," he stuffed the rest of his loaf into his mouth, and then got up. "There's nothing like a good start in the day, so let's get going. But first, you've got to get rid of those clothes." He looked through the back pack again and pulled out a black robe. "Here, put this on. It should fit you."

"Go outside."

Ice waited outside for her to change, and then she came out. They were slightly small for her, but she looked fine.

"Ok, now for the walking part."

* * *

Nightshade trudged behind Ice, who was hiking in a mock fashion and had been doing so for about an hour. He looked like he was marching up the mountain road they were on. She, however, had proven her unfitness by only walking at Ice's pace for five minutes, and then she had to slow down and finally stop. And now, an hour later, she wanted to stop again.

"How far now?"

Ice looked at the sky, then at the scenery. "Oh, perhaps about another three hours of walking should do, perhaps more."

She groaned. "I've got to rest." She sat down on a log and breathed in the air by inhaling deeply. Ice stopped, ahead of her, and frowned. "I thought you were a slave."

"I was, but I wasn't made to run around the city for five hours! I had to clean floors and polish weapons."

"No aerobic exercise, then?"

"Pardon?"

"Forget it." He sat down next to her. "I don't think that breakfast was very good. I'm hungry."

Nightshade's own stomach growled. "Yeah. Pity."

They sat in silence for a while, until Ice broke it by saying, "Think we'll die of starvation?"

She glared at him. "No." Her stomach growled again, and then a look of doubt spread on her face.

Ice sighed. "I don't know how long I'll last."

"Me neither."

There was another silence, and then he perked up. "Hear that?"

Nightshade listened and could hear a distant clopping. She looked confused before Ice cried, "A horse, which means a person!"

He was right. Up the hill a white horse walked, with loud hoof-steps on the cobblestone road. It had a large amount of bags and back-packs strapped to it, but it didn't crumble under weight, probably because of the huge muscles that poked out of its skin. And there was a person walking next to it.

She was a Bosmer, taller than Nightshade, wearing armor made of black fur that sculpted out her body. She was whistling and had a back pack on her back. Her light brown hair was tied back into a ponytail, revealing her green eyes. She would have been beautiful if she didn't look so tired, and her face looked older than she seemed. She turned her head and smiled. "Hey, well, what would you know: fellow travelers!"

Ice suddenly looked hostile, like he got an idea of who she could be. Nightshade however, ran up to her. "Hello! Do you have any food? We're starving! We'll be willing to pay you!"

The Bosmer laughed softly. "Here, here's an apple, and one for your boyfriend." Nightshade was too busy eating her apple to notice the last part. Ice took it unwillingly. "I'm Elyon Esrila, a traveling merchant."

"I'm Ni—" Ice swiftly put his hand over her mouth, then quickly withdrew when it got full of apple juice. "How do we know we can trust you, Bosmer?"

She shrugged. "You don't. That's why it's called trust." She took out an apple herself and bit into it. "I'll let you have the apple for free."

"Ok," Nightshade had eaten her apple and had thrown the core to the ground. Elyon eyed it. "Perhaps if you buried the core an apple tree will grow."

"Hey, good idea," she grabbed it without cleaning it and buried it. Ice looked purely disgusted. When she finished, he grabbed her and pulled her aside.

"We're dealing with one of those earthy people that care too much about the earth, but it's a cover. I can see right through it. She hides it real well. She must be working for those assassins!"

"How can you tell? If she was a bad guy she would've poisoned the apples." Nightshade looked at her. "She seems nice to me."

"Hello? What part of 'undercover' don't you understand?"

"Well, seeing as we can use the food, why don't we travel with her until we get to Weynon Priory, ok?" She patted his back. "As long as she doesn't know we have the—" she turned her head to check if Elyon was listening. Instead, she was whispering words to her horse. Ice looked freaked out. "As long as she doesn't know we have the amulet, we'll be safe." Nightshade walked back towards Elyon, leaving him looking annoyed.

"So, I'm Nightshade. That thing over there is Ice. We're on our way to Weynon Priory."

"Really? I'm heading to Chorrol. You know, I haven't been in Cyrodiil long, but I already feel like I've been here for years."

Ice came up behind them. "Oh? And where were you before?"

"Solsthiem. I spent many years there, but my homeland is Vvardenfell."

"Really? Hey, Ice is from Vvardenfell."

Elyon suddenly wasn't paying attention, like she just realized something. She looked at Nightshade. "What's your name again?"

"Nightshade."

"Oh." She stared off for a moment, and then got up. "So, seeing as we're going to same way, why don't we go the Weynon Priory together?" Ice raised an eyebrow. Nightshade was starting to have suspicions, but she said, "Ok!"

The four of them (counting the horse, whose name was Silver) walked silently for a while. It was an eerie silence that made Nightshade uneasy.

"Well, Nightshade, where are you from?" Elyon looked a little troubled. Nightshade shrugged. "I'm an orphan. I used to live in the Imperial City, but I needed to get out."

"Orphan…" she muttered, and then talked to Ice. "You are too?"

"Yeah," he sulked and said no more.

"What's the matter?" Nightshade blinked in question. Elyon bit her lip. "I'm an orphan too, and sibling-less…"

There was another silence. She didn't know how to respond to that. What did sibling-less mean? Well, yeah, obviously she had lost a brother or sister, but how?

Nightshade didn't want to pry. Elyon was a thousand miles away, and Ice was staring at the ground. The only noise was Silver, whose horse shoes clomped loudly on the stone.

* * *

"Thank the Nine!"

Ice looked like he would kiss the large stone cathedral-like building in front of the trio. They had been walking for hours, making small talk, but Nightshade felt she still didn't know Elyon like she should. But she liked her, and still believed she wasn't bad.

"So this is Weynon Priory, eh?" Elyon patted Silver's neck with a grin. She responded with a snort.

"Well, we've got to see Jauffre. Elyon, why don't you stay out here?" Nightshade walked past her, and then she noticed something odd. Elyon held no weapon on her hilt or back. This puzzled her, but she followed Ice into the building.

She thought it would be bigger. It looked more like a library than a cathedral with its wooden stairs and shelves and no chairs. They noted how no one seemed to be there.

Ice went up the stairs first, and the two, for ten seconds, walked upwards, their identical robes swaying. Nightshade made a mental note to buy some clothes.

In the first room, there was no one, but as they turned to their left and into a thick, yet short, hallway, a voice greeted them.

"Hello."

They jumped and turned to see a figure sitting at a desk several feet away. He was an Imperial, and an old one, possibly in his fifties. His head was bald at the top, but she saw his hands, which looked strong. He wore a brown monk's robe and was smiling at them. For some reason, it gave her the shivers.

"Are you Jauffre?" Ice approached with caution. He nodded. "That's I."

"Where is everyone?" Nightshade didn't approach. Something wasn't right.

"I will explain if you tell me your names."

She looked at Ice, hoping he'd make up a name. But he didn't. "I'm Ice. This is Nightshade. We've come from—someone special."

"But first tell us what's going on," she barked.

He sighed. "A tragic occurrence has happened. We were doing what we normally do, as monks, and suddenly we were jumped by many red-robed assassins. They were conjurers of sorts, and we could've handled them, but there were too many. Some of us fled, as did I, but I was the only one who returned. I _knew_ you'd come, you see, and someone has to tell you where we are and what's happening. The rest of us are hiding in the mountains somewhere, and we need to go there." He paused. "You do have the Amulet of Kings, don't you?"

Nightshade hesitated, but looked him strait in the eyes. She didn't trust him. He sounded too eager, and vague, like he didn't know what he was talking about. Ice, too, was staring at him, and then turned to Nightshade. "Where are the bodies?"

"I got rid of them—"

"By yourself?" It was too unbelievable.

"Do you have the Amulet or not?"

"No," Ice was touching his two knives.

"Then why are you here?"

"We look for a place to sleep," Nightshade thought fast. "What's this nonsense about the Amulet of Kings?"

"You're not it?" Jauffre's eyes suddenly shined with coldness. "You don't have the Amulet?"

"Uh, no," Ice growled.

He looked angry. "Then you die!" He lifted his right arm above his head and in a flash of light he wore the similar armor that the assassins had. He carried a nasty looking sword and slashed it at Nightshade. She unsheathed her Akaviri Katana and blocked it with a powerful swing. Her arm immediately felt tired, however, and Ice suddenly took on Jauffre with his two enchanted daggers. Then she got an idea.

"Hey, Jauffre, are you looking for this?" Nightshade held up the red diamond-shaped pendent. Just like she thought, he came and lunged for her. In a split second, she shot her sword up, closed her eyes, and felt the warm liquid splash onto her clothes and face. Slowly, she opened them, and saw Jauffre's face contort before her eyes from the middle-aged Imperial to a thirty year old Redguard. His armor deteriorated to red robes and a red hood.

She really wanted to scream, but she was paralyzed in the spot, until Ice came over and pushed her slightly. "Are you ok?"

She nodded slowly and lowered her arm. The body started to slide downward, and then stopped. She pushed the body off her katana and then shook herself off like a dog from the rain. Ice looked at him. "A shape-shift spell no doubt. He must've been one powerful, but stupid, mage. Pity."

He started to walk towards the stairs until a loose plank came up and smacked him in the face. Any other time Nightshade would've laughed, but she just grimaced. It fell unevenly to the floor.

Ice bent down and looked under it to discover a pile of hay, and underneath an envelope. He grabbed it and opened it gingerly. Nightshade slowly came up and read over his shoulder. Ice read it aloud:

_Dear Reader,_

_I hope you are the bearer of the Amulet of Kings and not part of the Mythic Dawn. However, I must write this down, for I have had a dream this would happen and you would discover this note._

_We have been attacked here, at Weynon Priory. We have fled to the Jerall Mountains and to a fort called Cloud Ruler Temple, but it is not safe for you to come yet. The enemy suspects we are here, but once they discover you were here and killed my imposter, they will go back to Weynon Priory. But not yet. In the mean time, I must tell you what you need to know._

_The Emperor was killed by a group known as the Mythic Dawn, who wants the Empire to fall. They need the Amulet of Kings to ensure their victory, but you must keep it for now. As long as your identity is hidden, you will be safe._

_You must travel to the city of Kvatch where the last heir is. His name is Martin and works at the church. You must rescue him before the enemy finds out, and not just the Mythic Dawn. The Prince of Destruction known as Mehrunes Dagon is growing powerful, but he is separated from the mortal world through magical barriers. These barriers are kept up by the Dragonfires in the Imperial Palace. If the Emperor falls, the Dragonfires go out, and the barriers fall. That is why we need Martin._

_By the time you find Martin Cloud Ruler Temple will be secure and ready for your arrival. I bid you make haste, for I fear the enemy already suspects his existence. Good luck to you, whoever you are, and I hope your journey to Kvatch and back proves less fatal and unfortunate._

There was an odd signature at the bottom that neither of them could make out except for a large J.

"Kvatch, eh?" Ice scratched his head. Nightshade was shivering.

"Maybe we should leave. That's to the west, isn't it?"

Ice stared at her. "You ok? I thought you were always around dead bodies."

"But-but _I killed_ him…" her voice carried off. He didn't need to hear anymore.

"Come on, maybe Elyon will let you have something, if she isn't from this Mythic Dawn. I didn't understand most of that letter, though. Who are those people and why is this happening?" They slowly went down the stairs. "So much can happen in one day, eh?"

Nightshade knew it. Everything seemed to happen in one day. Your whole life could end in one day.

Elyon smiled when they came out, but when she saw the blood stains on Nightshade's robe, she rose. "What happened?"

"Jauffre wasn't Jauffre," Ice folded his arms, "a downright fake. He attacked us, so Nightshade killed him."

She looked down at the Dunmer and took out a small towel and a vile. "Here, rub this on your clothes. The stains should come out."

They sat down on the bench Elyon had been sitting on. Nightshade slowly rubbed the ointment into her clothes.

"So, do you have any idea why he'd impersonate Jauffre?"

Ice looked at her in disbelief. "Don't you know Jauffre is the Blade's Grandmaster?"

"Blades? Ah, yes, the protector people, bodyguards of the Empire, all of that."

"Yeah. Anyone would want to kill him, or at least any bad people."

Nightshade stopped rubbing and interrupted Ice. "Actually, there's another reason."

Ice was in shock. "Don't tell her, you idiot!" Elyon was bewildered. "Don't tell me what?"

"The Emperor's dead." She, at first, reacted slowly, but then had a look of panic in her eyes. "The Emperor Uriel Septim, dead?"

"I saw him die," Nightshade muttered. "Those Mythic Dawn people assassinated him."

Elyon suddenly looked sympathetic and put her arm around her in a hug. "No wonder you're shaking. That's not something you see every day."

"You're not a Mythic Dawn agent?" Ice asked.

"Me? No, never heard of them. I just came in from Solsthiem."

"Well, we, _I_, have something they want: the Amulet of Kings."

Elyon wasn't sure how to respond, but instead she grinned. "You get out of one adventure saving the world and you get into another." She sprang up. "So, where to first?"

"Why are you suddenly so happy?" he growled.

"Because we will save the world."


	5. Chapter 5: The Wolf Pup

Chapter 5: The Wolf Pup

Ice was tired of slashing through the underbrush of the forest. He wouldn't stop complaining about the route they had taken. Instead of, "wasting hours," as Elyon had put it, on the roads, she suggested taking the, "short and dangerous route," as Ice had put it, off the roads. He kept talking about Imp Country that he had wanted to show Nightshade right before Skingrad, but now they'd be bypassing it and making a straight diagonal from Weynon Priory to Kvatch, their next destination.

So far, the four of them, counting Elyon's horse, Silver, had run into two bears, four boars, and a Spriggan, which Elyon had killed three times. She said she had had a lot of practice in Solsthiem with Spriggans and a bunch of other things, like Ricklings ("They're small blue men that are vicious and are men of the wild; they live in a large castle where they do the bidding of Hircine, the Daedric prince of hunting."), werewolves, bone hounds, witches, and Beserkers, crazy people that wore no clothes and ran around the wilderness. Nightshade found it fascinating, but Elyon never gave any specifics about her quests. Both Nightshade and Ice found it suspicious.

"Nightshade, what happens if she tries to attack us?" Ice tossed her Akaviri Katana back.

"If she's going to kill us she would've done it by now."

"I don't think she's ever been to Solsthiem. She's probably making it all up."

Nightshade rolled her eyes and ate a bread roll Elyon had given her. She was feeding Silver when suddenly Ice toppled over and Nightshade screamed in surprise.

A wolf, possibly bigger than him, was snarling in his face, pinning him down. Its pungent breath matched its ugly, gray face, and its fangs were blotched yellow with tartar.

Elyon had jumped back in surprise and had seemingly frozen. Nightshade swung her sword and the wolf jumped back. Ice scrambled to his feet and took out his two knives. "Stupid wolf," he growled.

"Actually, that's quite a smart wolf," Elyon was advancing slowly. The wolf watched closely. "Most wolves will outright attack you or run. This one's smart."

"I don't care if it can solve the hardest question in the universe. It attacked me!" Ice swung his daggers at the wolf, causing two large cuts, one on its face and the other on its shoulder. It, in anger, threw itself at him, causing him to loose his daggers and fall backwards into the mud. Nightshade slashed at its side and it tumbled. Elyon only watched.

The wolf was badly injured, but it didn't stop it from lunging at Nightshade. She swung and it threw it to the side. Its teeth were bared, but there were too many wounds. It knew it would die. Nightshade almost felt sorry for it when she plunged the katana into its side.

Elyon look miserably at it. Nightshade still looked grossed out, but she touched it with the toe of her shoe. It rocked slightly, like jelly. She stepped away.

"Elyon, you won't skin it?" Ice looked at her in question. She didn't reply right away. "You skin it."

Nightshade raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing. Ice, come here, and I'll teach you how to skin."

Nightshade watched the two. Elyon looked depressed the whole procedure. Then they moved on out of the clearing.

Elyon was no longer cheerful. Ice was eerily quite. Nightshade felt awkward.

It wasn't long before Elyon stopped again. Her expression had changed from a saddened look to a troubled look.

"Hear that?"

They stopped to hear a faint whimper. Elyon turned sharply to her right and suddenly the whimper turned into a high-pitched snarl. She pushed the branches and leaves away to see a den made of a fallen tree and a hole. The thing making the noise was inside.

"Careful," Ice, who had retrieved his daggers, took them back out. She put her hands in and then yelled "Ouch!" Her hand, as she pulled them out, was bleeding very slightly.

"Whatever's in there is pretty weak." Nightshade felt she didn't need her katana.

Elyon suddenly laughed. "It's weak because it's a baby wolf!"

The two blinked, half in wonder, half in confusion. She, however, approached Silver and took out a slab of venison. She ripped a small piece and threw it into the den.

"Why did you just do that?" Ice snapped. "You're feeding the enemy!"

"It won't survive without its mother, Ice. It's and innocent baby. It hasn't done anything to you." She turned on him. "Are you going to kill an innocent baby?"

"If it'll grow up to be a blood-thirsty monster, then, yes!"

"But it won't. Don't you know dogs come from wolves? Wolves were our ancestor's dogs, domesticated and did our bidding over time. It, no, she, can be tamed, just with a little trust."

Elyon continued to feed her venison and soon, she stopped snarling and came out. The young pup's pelt was a dark gray with flecks of black mixed in. Her paws were pure black along with her face, and her tail was darker than the rest of the gray but had a gradual, black tip. She only seemed to notice Elyon, whom who was speaking to her in a soothing whisper. Even Silver looked a bit frightened.

"See? She isn't a monster." Elyon stroked her softly. "Hey, little one, you cannot survive on your own. Want to come with us?"

"Ok, now she's really crazy," Nightshade whispered, but Ice shook his head. "Wood Elves have the power to command animals, but never have I heard of holding a conversation with them. That's some serious magic."

* * *

"C'mon, Richu! Can't you see Kvatch on top of that hill?"

The wolf cup barked. It had taken the rest of the day to get to even see Kvatch in the distance. Everyone was exhausted.

"Where will we pitch the tent?" Ice wasn't as tired as Nightshade whose legs felt nothing more than jelly. She fell to the ground and stayed there until he kicked her in her side.

Elyon stuck a peg into the hard ground with such force dirt sprayed in all directions instead of settling into a dust cloud. Ice figured she had muscles under that armor.

After the tent was pitched, Nightshade and Ice fell asleep instantly. Elyon, however, stayed up, unable to sleep, so she could sit on a rock and stroke Richu happily, and stare up at the stars.

"Are you really dead?"


	6. Chapter 6: The Scamp Gate

Chapter 6: The Scamp Gate

Nightshade's morning had sucked big-time. She was half-way up the mountain and even when she woke up, her legs just went three steps out of her tent before she had to sit and rub them. Ice had said it was a good thing and that her legs would get used to it. She was going to make him get used to her fist.

She couldn't make it to Kvatch, but luckily she didn't have to walk it all, because the five was suddenly surprised to see a camp, possibly with about a dozen people. Most of them looked sad or was crying. Three of them were calm.

"What's going on here?" Elyon furrowed her brow and approached the closest person, a Redguard who held her face in her hands. She started weeping right when she saw her, so she backed away.

"I can't go on," Nightshade fell to the ground and a small dust cloud formed. Elyon crouched beside her. "Ice, go get some information. Night needs some medicine."

"Huh? What are you going to do?" Ice didn't like the fact he'd be doing the dirty work.

"I specialize in alchemy and healing magic. I was taught by the best back in Vvardenfell."

"Really? Why didn't you mention it before?"

"Because I never needed to," she started to take something out of her pockets. They looked like large seed pods. She beaconed for Silver, and Richu jumped off her back. She had been sleeping, but now she was curious.

Ice looked angry. "Fine. Fine!" He marched off and came to a slim, pretty-looking Wood elf with a blue-velvet dress and light hair in a bun. She blinked. "May I help you?"

"Yeah," he growled. "What's going on? Who are you people?"

She looked at him while arranging odd looking objects on her table. "Haven't you heard? Kvatch is under attack. We're refugees, the ones that survived."

"You're rather calm."

She faltered and one of the trinkets fell and broke. She was closing her eyes. "Please go, I have nothing more to say."

Ice backed off. These people were freaking him out. So, where was this Martin?

He walked back to Elyon to find her using an alembic. "Kvatch has been attacked; just our luck. How much do you want to bet we're going to have to rescue Martin from some trapped building and all the rest of the survivors?"

Richu glared at him while Elyon just said, "Ok." She started to pour the liquid she made into a vile. "A fulfilling power drink made from aloe vera for health and fatigue, flax for a boost, ginkgo for your magicka, and peony for strength." She handed it to Nightshade, who weakly drank it.

"Now, there might be some side effects, including feeling invisible, feeling light-headed, having a shield, being unlucky, and feeling shocked (and I mean electricity-wise)." Immediately after Elyon said this, Nightshade jumped up a little and rubbed her sides. "There's the shock." She got up anyway and felt her legs. "Hey, I do feel better. Thanks!"

"No problem," Elyon smiled. Richu started to wag her tail when she rose too.

"So, we have to find out where Martin is," Ice tugged on Nightshade's robe. "We better hurry before it's too late."

She sighed, but followed. Elyon led Silver after them after she put her alchemistical tools away.

They didn't walk far out of the camp until an old Breton, who looked like a monk, stopped them. "It's the end of the world! Oblivion has risen and Cyrodiil will turn into Molag Bal's Coldharbour!"

"Yeah, yeah, we're looking for Martin." Ice rolled his eyes like he heard things like that every day.

"Martin? The church guy? Didn't see him. He's a victim of the Oblivion Crisis! Run, before it's too late!"

"Unlike you, we're not cowards," Ice seemed more than irritated by the monk's pessimism. "Come on."

* * *

The Oblivion Gate was nothing like Nightshade had ever imagined. It was oval shaped and looked like it was made of fire with claws outlining as the doorframe. The fire came out from the middle and shined as it sped outwards towards the black talons. Ice had stepped back and was squinting his eyes in regret of ever coming. Elyon just looked amazed.

"How are we supposed to get through that?" Nightshade had grown chipper since her legs had healed, but her voice faltered from that.

Ice shrugged. They were standing more than a few yards away behind, what they noticed, a fence of badly placed, sharpened sticks. There were guards sitting behind them, looking worried and drinking a bottle of some sort of alcohol.

"Excuse me," Elyon called. "What's going on?"

A guard looked at her. "Hell, that's what. Those Daedra have been coming out of that gate for ages. Kvatch is a goner."

"What sort?"

"Evil ones, what else?"

Ice looked scared a little. "Evil Daedra…"

"What other sort of Daedra is there?" she turned her attention back to the guard. "Where's your captain?"

"He went into the gate with a few men. Hasn't come back."

She sighed. "You were right, Ice, we'll have to go and save Martin. Come on."

"No, wait!"

The guards were baring their swords as something started to come out. Ice's eyes went wide. Elyon bit her lip. Nightshade just wanted to know what it was.

"They're coming!"

They bared their weapons, ready for combat. Something was coming out of the flaming gate.

"Oh my—what the heck?"

A small creature with large ears and pale, brown skin came running out, baring long, sharp claws. Ice rolled his eyes and with a lone swipe of his dagger it went backwards and died.

"_That's _what you're worried about? A stupid scamp?"

The guard was sweating. "They're vicious. That's all that's come out, around three of them at a time, tearing and running around—"

"By the Nine, you're a bunch of chickens! They're _scamps!_ I was expecting real Daedra, like Clannfears or Atronaches. No, you bunch of yellow-bellies are scared of scamps, runts at that!"

"If you're so tough go in there yourself!" A guard at the end of the fence barked.

"We plan to," Elyon started to walk up to the gate.

"What's so bad about scamps?" Nightshade would rather ask Elyon because she clearly had more experience than Ice.

"Scamps throw fireballs and resist fire and spells, but they are weak against shocks. Stunted scamps, like the one we just saw, are even weaker." She patted Silver's snout and Richu's head. "Stay here until we come back."

The trio approached the gate cautiously. Elyon felt the portal and it rippled like a liquid, not like fire. She inhaled deeply and stepped through. Ice stepped next, and Nightshade stepped reluctantly.

She stared, a look of surprise across all their faces.

The world of Oblivion was right in front of them. The ground was red dust and all around them were towers of wicked, black metal with sharpened tips. They were connected by bridges, narrow and without rails, and around their small island was a sea of lava. Fires were everywhere, almost like lights, just suddenly appearing and then shrinking and blown away.

"I've counted seven towers, one in the middle of six," Elyon frowned. "I don't see any Daedra either."

"You mean scamps," Ice laughed, a little nervousness showed in it.

"What do we do?" Nightshade was scared. This place was pure evil.

"Well, it's pretty obvious we have to get into that middle tower, but there seems to be a bunch of fires and rocks around it. We'll have to find a way through the other towers," Elyon started to walk.

"Wait up!"

They proceeded cautiously into the hellish place. Nightshade had to grip her bearings more than once when they passed gruesomely tortured bodies with blood dripping down their decaying bodies. Eyes were opened wide as guts hung out of stomachs freely and mouths were open in sheer terror as their feet were tied to a string and hung upside down. Elyon was stiff while Ice was shaking. They knew perfectly well this could be their fate.

"Odd, how we haven't co-co-come across any Dae-daedra," Ice stammered, trying to look optimistic. Elyon nodded grimly and Nightshade just kept walking with a disgusted look on her face.

"F-finally, a door!" he pushed it open. It felt gritty and brittle, like lead, and yet it held strongly. The unusual grooves and spikes gave way to an odd tower that towered into the sky. If he had looked closely, he could've seen the red and black blotchiness above.

His marveling was short because two nasty-looking scamps had seen them and were running at them, screeching. He took out his knives, but they proved stronger than they looked as they ganged up on him and made him fall.

Nightshade unsheathed her sword and slashed. Elyon, like usual, just watched. The scamps, in no time, were motionless.

"What the hell?" Ice's anger showed in his reddening face as he confronted Elyon. "Why is it you never help?"

"I killed a spriggan for you," she calmly retorted. He was about to answer back when Nightshade tapped him on the shoulder. "What?"

"What's that?"

They looked to see, in the middle of the large floor, a pit, and at the bottom were large spikes. "A torture pit. No much of torture, though. All you have to do is push someone down and they die with a scream instantly." Ice stuck his tongue out.

"So, where to now?" Nightshade looked around to see a spiral slope heading upwards to the middle of the tower. She sighed as Elyon pointed that way. "That just looks plain scary."

"Afraid of heights?" Ice taunted her as he started to walk upwards and almost slipped. Nightshade snickered slightly, but she didn't smile. The girls followed anyway.

They walked, and walked, and walked. They didn't talk at all, not really feeling up to it. Nightshade looked at the floor to notice it was black in some parts and red in others. This interested her for some strange reason.

When they reached the top, there was a small room with a hole in the middle. She looked down to see the pit directly below, and saw something she didn't before. There was a blue body below, bloody with the spike sticking through its stomach, blood all over its face, which looked like it was screaming.

There was a bridge leading out into the windy air through a door they had found. She didn't even look down; she was too scared. To add to her feeling, there were no rails or anything obscuring her from the ground below. When they reached the middle tower, she clung to the wall, her ponytail getting ruined from the wind.

Ice followed behind her and violently pushed her aside while looking wildly down. "Who's scared of heights now?" Nightshade taunted with a shaking voice.

Elyon was a superb balancer, much like a cat, stealthy and fast. Her arms didn't even flail out. She did look scared, though. Before she reached the tower, she pointed. "Behind you!"

The two turned to see a rather nasty looking scamp. He looked like he hadn't eaten in days, or slept. He kept rubbing his hands like he was gambling, and his left ear was torn. His eyes were swollen and bloodshot, but yellow all the same. Nightshade jumped back when she heard its voice.

"Well, looks like we have intruders, like the master said."

"A talking scamp!" Ice looked fascinated with the small creature.

"Master wants young heroes eliminated. Master will be pleased…" The scamp raised its scrawny arms and the shadows started to move, contort, and come off the walls and floors. The room, being large and oddly different with many pillars, two large windows bringing in dusty rays of light, and tiled floors, had many shadows, and soon a whole army of scamps stood before them, grinning and flexing their bony fingers. "Get 'em!"

Elyon cracked her fists and started punching like crazy. Ice and Nightshade slashed through, and yet the scamp that started it all was laughing, mocking, and only creating more.

"We can't win this!" Ice was back-to-back with her. "You need to get to the top of the tower and—well, _do something!_"

He pushed her into the swarm of Daedra and blocked for her. They went through the room until they found a door. "Go, we'll stall them!"

Her robe ripped and stained with blood, Nightshade pushed the stone door, and instantly found herself in another room, but it was more like a hall. Doors were on either side of her, and yet she knew none of them would help. She could hear screams and evil laughter, the hall seemed endless. Scared, she finally reached the end—

For a moment Nightshade thought she had made a complete circle, because the room looked very much like the first tower, with the spiked pit and ramp circling up. She staggered back, shocked, until she realized it wasn't. This room had doors, and the sky was much more visible. She started to climb.

* * *

"We have to get to that scamp!" Elyon shouted over the screeching of scamps. "I have a plan. Get to the middle of this heap and distract him, ok, and for gods' sake don't die!" She jumped over the heads with amazing acrobatics and landed on top of a bigger scamp, immediately killing it. Ice, with no better idea, followed orders for once, though not with great enthusiasm, and started to flail around.

"Hey, scampy-guy! Your mother was a—uh—three-headed Guar who mated with a rat, which explains why you're so butt-ugly!"

He smirked as the scamp's pale face turned crimson with anger. "I'll show you who has the better genes—"

Too late. Shouting untranslatable words, Elyon had shot a ray of green-white light at the scamp, hitting him square on the back. His concentration blown, he fell and the scamps reduced to nothingness around them.

"Good hit," Ice stared at the paralyzed scamp. "You shouldn't have stunned him, though, because now you have to kill him yourself."

"I don't want him dead," Elyon saw the scamp twitch and picked him up. "I want to know what's going on."

Regaining consciousness, he groaned and rolled his head back.

"Well," she shook him. "You heard me, Daedra!"

"Creeper doesn't know!" the scamp cried. "Creeper was in his master's house when dark man appeared. He said Creeper must obey the new master or else his old master would die! Creeper, being loyal, obeyed!"

"Creeper… hold up. Aren't you that scamp that sells lock picks and stolen stuff with skooma in Caldera?"

"Yes! You know Creeper! Creeper wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"Hmm…"

* * *

Nightshade could sleep for a year after this. She had reached the top and had finally got the hang of not looking down. Oddly enough, there was only a scamp guarding the overhang, which was swiftly put to rest. But that wasn't what captivated her.

It was a ball that looked of flames, like lava, but cooled with molten on top. It floated above a pedestal of cruel-looking claws. She wanted to touch it, to hold it, to be enthralled by it.

She reached out, eyes wide, and her fingers touched the warm surface. She pulled, and she was suddenly spinning, everything transforming or disintegrating, refusing to let go…

"Nightshade!"

She clutched the stone to her heart and realized it was Ice that had called her name. She looked at him, unable to speak.

"You did it!"

She nodded, and then looked at Elyon. She wasn't looking at them. She was looking at the flames around them.

* * *

_A Word from Haunt: Ok, this chapter's a cliff-hanger, and has a lot from Morrowind. I'm telling you now; Morrowind's got a BIG part in this story. I'll try to help, though._

_Creeper- a scamp that was in the Orc Mansion in the Morrowind city of Caldera. I remember he was sort of a fence and could sell practically anything to him._

_Guar- A pack animal used in Morrowind that looked kind of like a round lizard. I thought they were kind of cute…_

_Caldera- City in Morrowind. Its main importance was the Mages Guild. It was a sort of fort town, small, and was near the Caldera mining camp in the West Gash region._

_Morrowind- a country to the northeast of Cyrodiil_

_Vvardenfall- a large island disconnected with the mainland of Morrowind_


	7. Chapter 7: The Siege of Kvatch

Chapter 7: The Siege of Kvatch

The fires, Nightshade slowly realized, were not really encircling them. They were eating up the buildings around them: houses and shops, she guessed. Ice tugged on her sleeve. "Quit staring and let's go! And why are you still holding that--- that _thing?_"

He was treating the stone she had taken like some sort of diseased animal and that made her uneasy. She wasn't sure why she was holding it up to her chest, or why she felt so inclined to have it. "It's too big to fit in my pocket."

He rolled his eyes and they followed Elyon through the hot, dancing flames, almost like they were laughing at them for suffering, or even living.

They coughed and sputtered their way to a stone building, separate from the others. It was bigger, but not too big, with a peaked roof and many stained glass windows. The fire hadn't reached it.

"Quick! Get in!" Elyon didn't have to tell them. Ice dived for the large doors and flung them open to reveal a church with a group of guards and many people. They looked frightened and confused, and then someone whispered, "Our saviors," when the three stood in the doorway.

They entered, Nightshade first despite Ice's disapproval and selfishness. She stared at the sad faces. A boy, apparently Breton, clung to a woman's shirt and recoiled when she approached. On another pew a man was muttering to himself and staring blankly at the floor. Someone cried in the corner silently.

Elyon waved for her to come. They were speaking to a rather dirty and disgruntled guard whom she took as the captain that went in.

"… Right when we thought we'd be finished by all these scamps, the whole world seemed to disappear and we were in Kvatch. Did you have anything to do with that?"

Elyon nodded. "Nightshade, tell him what happened."

She hesitated. "Well, I went to the top of the middle tower, and up there was this," she held out the stone. "I pulled it out and then I was back with them."

"What is it?" the captain examined it, "some sort of lava rock?"

"We don't know," Elyon started to sound scholarly. "I'd like to send it to Morrowind for some info. This is of Oblivion, something I think they can help us with seeing as they're Daedra worshippers."

"I don't know if you can send anything over there with the House wars going on, but we'll discuss it later. Thank you, young dunmer. Might I ask of your name?"

"Nightshade."

"Well, thank you. I, Savlian Matius will make sure your name is known."

"Ok, so we got rid of Oblivion, now we need Martin," Ice butted in.

"Martin? Oh, you mean the monk. He's probably down in the undercroft, praying. But first we need help----"

No sooner had he said that Ice was marching down the stairs of the large church. Unsure of what to do, Nightshade followed.

* * *

The undercroft was dark and spooky, a characteristic Ice didn't overlook. He stopped on the stairs and stared at the stone floor, the marble pillars, and most importantly the white coffins that lay in the indentations in the walls. The candles gave hardly any light.

"Martin?" he called weakly. Nightshade didn't find it spooky. "Just go down there."

"Why don't you?" he snapped back.

"Because I'm shy and don't do well with people."

He rolled his eyes and, although scared, he was going to prove it was a piece of cake. He did stop once, though, and found it odd that Nightshade didn't say anything like "Coward," or "Scaredy-cat." She seemed out of it, still holding the stone that was too big to merely hold in her palm. Both arms wrapped around it near her chest.

"Martin?" he peered into a small, circular room. "Martin?"

A teenager that looked no older than he stared at him. He was an Imperial with shaggy brown hair and a baby blue apprentice's robe with a light brown rope tied around the waist. His equally blue eyes stared at him. "Yes, I'm Martin. Who are you?"

"We just came through an Oblivion gate to come and find you," Ice said. "We come from Jauffre with urgent news. Come on, we have to get to Cloud Top, right?" He looked at Nightshade who shrugged.

"Wait, you didn't answer my question. Who are you? And now I want to know why I have to go to some Temple." Martin stood up from his kneeling position.

"It's a long story."

"I have time," he eyed the stone.

"Look, I'm Ice, and this is Nightshade, and upstairs is Elyon talking to the captain. Jauffre sent us to come and look for you because you're the last heir to the Septim throne. Now we have to get to Cloud Top Temple to meet him there----"

"Cloud Ruler."

"Huh?" Ice looked at Nightshade who was staring at his feet. "Cloud Ruler Temple, not Cloud Top."

"Umm, is she ok?" Martin looked at her. She looked—faint, like if you blew on her she'd fall. Ice shrugged hesitantly. Martin went back to the subject at hand. "So, explain to me why I have to go with two complete strangers?"

"I told you, you're the last heir."

"Heir? Heir to what?"

"The Septim throne!"

"No, you're pulling my leg," he laughed weakly, "I'm just a prior boy, here to serve Akatosh."

"No, you're Martin Septim, the lost heir!"

"Please, you must be wrong," he shook his head. "Me, heir? No…"

"Look, _brother_," Ice's voice grew impatient. "Nightshade saw the emperor die. Do you think I'm lying?!"

He looked at Ice and sighed. "Fine, I'll go. But you're probably making a mistake. I'm no heir, and especially to no emperor."

They returned to the Chapel to find Elyon and the Captain waiting. She looked stern and stone-faced.

"The Count is still in his castle. We need to rescue him. But we don't have enough people. The Daedra are still out there, and we need to kill as many as we…"

It was after that point her words were lost to Nightshade, slurred in her mind and then just faint sounds. Her vision was blurring. The stone felt hot against her robe's sleeves. She could feel herself move, and then a bit of pain and a rush of air, then nothing.

* * *

_She opened her eyes to see she was in some sort of castle made of the same stone as the towers. She was in a large, dimly lit room, and then laughter rung through it- evil laughter. She looked around. "You passed my first test, child, but don't think hell's over."

* * *

_

"Dude! You _are _weak!"

The insult caused Nightshade to open her eyes and glare at Ice. She was laying flat on her back on the church floor with about six faces in hers.

"Are you all right?"

She nodded and noticed the stone was gone. "How long was I out for?"

"About five minutes," Elyon looked out the windows. "You don't look well. We want you to stay here and guard the church."

"What?" At this she sprung up. "I'm not going to be left behind!"

"You need rest. Plus, someone needs to help these people."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do great," Ice's sarcasm made him smirk as the small group of guards left the castle and into the inferno. Martin tried to comfort her.

"It's ok. Maybe it's best."

She stared at the floor, trying to remember he dream. Five minutes was abnormal for a dream.

Martin walked past her to the altar and she saw he was carrying the stone. It didn't look as hot or bright as it did before. "Martin, is that hot?"

"Not really, but when one of the guards tried to pick it up, he said it burned his suit."

"Maybe that means you are the heir."

"And how about you? How come you could hold it?"

That she could not answer.

* * *

She was bored, sitting there, listening to Martin talk to the others. Boy, could he talk.

Oh, how she wished she could be with them than inside this church. She wasn't one for gods, which included the Daedra and the Nine Divines. She never went to the Temple to pray. She believed gods didn't help, praying wouldn't either. A helped person was one who tried to help themselves than sit around, wishing and hoping. Take action, not prayer.

"I can't take this anymore!" She got up, her sword behind her clanging as she did so. Martin quickly followed. "You can't go! These people need you!"

"They're ok. Geeze, no Daedra will step foot into a church of a Divine. Everyone knows that." She opened the doors and walked out. Most people knew that, but how could she?

* * *

It took her a while to find the palace. It was surrounded by a stone wall with only one way in. The drawbridge that was there was down, so she quickly ran across. She had killed a couple of scamps already, so adrenaline rushed through her.

The doors were wide open, or burnt off, she didn't see, and standing there was Ice. His arms were folded in a pouting anger look, and he didn't scold her.

"I can't believe it! They put me on guard duty because I was the youngest! I came along for adventure! If I knew I'd be watching for Daedra I would've stayed with you!"

"You're not going to ask why I'm here?"

"It's obvious. I would've done the same."

Nightshade thought for a moment. "Maybe we should check it out. I mean, I killed the scamps I met. There probably aren't any more around here."

He nodded. "I'm for going in there."

The two walked through the large hall, and then started to run. They kicked open as many doors as they could, ad when Nightshade stepped on a body, she screamed, thinking it was Elyon. Ice led her through the flames and ran into two guards who joined them after a short argument. They came to the last door. "That's the Count's room. Captain said he wanted his ring to prove he was really dead," a female guard said.

"You go in," Ice pushed Nightshade who pushed back. "Why don't you, coward?"

"Because you're made for this sort of thing," he pushed her again, and this time she hit him on his arm. Before he could hit back, the other guard stepped in the way. "Would someone please just go in already?"

Nightshade stuck out her tongue and entered, highly hoping he'd be alive. She entered his parlor first, where furniture was thrown into a burning pile. Two scamps were walking around and she killed them with a small fight. Nervous, she entered the last room, to find the Count dead.

Grossed out, she had trouble bringing herself to pry the ring off someone's cold, dead finger. She quickly put it in her pocket and rushed out.

"Well, is he dead?" Ice growled, still sore about loosing. She nodded and held out the ring. "It's disgusting."

"It's what Captain Matius wanted," the guard shrugged. "Now we have to find the others. You two should stay in the front and wait----"

"Oh we are not. We're coming with you." Ice stomped in front of the guard. She bit her lip, and the other guard, a Nord, shrugged. "Let them get in trouble."

They knew they didn't have much time. The castle could fall any minute, so they wasted no time. Falling, burning planks almost hit them. Flame would just come out of nowhere from burning embers and sparks. Nothing could be salvaged now.

"Elyon?" Nightshade coughed. The fumes were starting to get to them. Ice tugged on her robe. Then a figure leaped through the flames. At first, they thought it was the Captain carrying Elyon when it happened to be the opposite. She looked surprised to see the two, but she asked no questions. "Come on! Let's get out of here!"

They ran, the fire getting worse, the smoke getting thicker, the choking feeling growing. A plank fell, a slight yelp, but they didn't stop until they found the entrance. They crossed the bridge to see the castle collapse.

* * *

They counted who was left. Out of the five guards, only two survived, both forlorn and tired. Elyon was trying to revive the Captain with a spell, muttering incantations and moving her hands so a light blue light appeared and disappeared like a wave of slow lightning. Ice was breathing hard and leaning against a wall. Nightshade merely watched.

As though answering to their misery, the overcast sky finally let down some rain dowsing the fires some. "Should be about an hour before all the fires are out," Ice tried to mask his worried feeling by trying to be calm and smart. It didn't work.

The Captain came to after a while. He moved and coughed. "You'll probably be coughing like that for a while to get the smoke out of your system," Elyon told him in a doctor-ish voice. He grinned slightly and looked around. "Not many of us survived." He sighed. "What of the Count?"

"Dead," Nightshade didn't want the ring anymore, so she hastily handed it over to him. He sighed sadly. "I'll be sure to hand it down to the next Count or Countess."

The six of them walked slowly back to the Temple where they were greeted by somewhat-rejoicing people. Martin looked happy.

They agreed, after dowsing some temporary energy potions from Elyon, to get out of the city. It wasn't hard; there were no more Daedra left. The siege of Kvatch was over.

They parted ways with the Captain after they got out. The people were so happy to be out again, out of the terror. They were praising them as the Heroes of Kvatch, which made Ice grin broadly and Elyon just sort of wave it off with a small smile and then turned her attention to Richu and Silver. But Nightshade felt bugged. She knew this was only the beginning, as they walked down the mountain with Martin talking to Ice like they had known each other for years. She knew there would be more, and it would be worse every time. Those doors she saw in that hall, she knew each one would open and there would always be another battle. And there was no way out anymore.

_A Word from Haunt: Yeah! First quest is over. Or is it? _

_If you don't know Elder Scrolls isn't mine, then you need to start paying more attention to my small blurts. Elyon, Nightshade, Richu, Silver, and Ice (it's getting tiring to say them) are mine._


	8. Chapter 8: The Exploding Stone

Chapter 8: The Exploding Stone

The fort-like temple rose over the horizon, over the snow and the top of the mountain. Ice and Martin continued to talk while Elyon concentrated on the road ahead. Nightshade felt, oddly, happy, having convinced herself over the hours that maybe their small adventure as heroes had come to an end.

They had walked all the way up from Kvatch to Bruma through wilderness, stopping to camp and sleep at night. Now, the sun was halfway up to the peak of the sky, or, as Ice put it, it was eight o'clock in the morning. They passed Bruma an hour ago and already felt tired.

They stopped to rest on a rock. Martin wasn't used to this kind of walking, and even Ice seemed to wilt. Nightshade sat next to him and looked out beyond and down the mountain where there was nothing but fog. The air was thin, and yet she felt energetic today.

"We should get going," Elyon looked back up the mountain, almost like she was worried. Richu barked and rolled around in the snow while Silver watched with an odd look.

Martin placed the stone he still held in the snow where it sort of sizzled and smoked. He stretched and yawned.

It was a quiet slush that both Nightshade and Richu heard. She stopped rolling and perked her ears up to a large bolder to the right of Nightshade. She was the closest to the sound which freaked her out. She touched the hilt of her sword. Ice was in another debate with Elyon about rest stops and Martin looked very distant. Only Nightshade and the animals were prepared for the red robed attack seconds later.

They seemed to come out of the snow itself and ran towards them with amazing speed, shouting incantations and creating armor around them, hiding their faces. Nightshade toppled off the rock and was attacked with brute force. Her black robe turned white with melting snow that crunched beneath them. She was pinned. Richu snarled and jumped, but he forced her off with a crushing blow. Silver whinnied.

Ice was trying feebly to protect Martin from three assassins. One jumped him violently and they lost footing twice fighting, causing him to move away from Martin, who was running. He was hit with an ice blast in the back. He struggled, but one held him down while the other was taking out a nasty-looking dagger. Elyon had moved closer to the edge, closer to the stone on the floor. She continued to back up, unaware, and clenched her fists in a menacing manner.

Nightshade gritted her teeth; the only thing keeping her from a short, swift death was her katana in front of her face. The attacker was pushing against it, trying to get his blade into her face. She closed her eyes and heard something faint, like it was a thousand miles away. She opened them, feeling tired, to see the body off of her and next to her in the snow, knocked out. She saw both Ice and his attacker in the snow, coughing, and Martin was starting to get up to flee while the assassins were down. There was smoke, and lots of it, but she could make out two bodies near the rock they had been sitting on moments ago, both unmoving. And she blacked out.

* * *

Nightshade blinked her chest hurting and her heart beating fast. She saw faces looking at her. She wondered where she was. She sat up to see her surroundings. The ceiling was made of wood, and candles blazed in every wall. Bookcase was next to bookcase, and the beds with white sheets were lined on the wall.

"What happened?" she rubbed at her chest, her voice raspy. Ice grinned. "It was the weirdest thing!"

She looked at the other people. Ice was sitting on her right side while Martin sat on her left, staring down at his hands in his lap. An old man she recognized from the imposter in Weynon Priory stood at the foot of her bed with a small smile. A Redguard she remembered as Baurus stood next to him. "Welcome back!" They both wore identical armor made of a dark gold. Two other people stood behind them, one with the same armor, the other in common clothes that looked like a healer.

"How long was I out for?"

"About an hour at the most. Deadly, it just exploded! By itself! If it hadn't, we'd be dead!"

She looked at the Imperial. "You must be the real Jauffre."

He nodded. "Welcome to Cloud Ruler Temple, Nightshade."

"Hi, Baurus," she waved weakly at him. He waved back. "Where's Elyon?"

Ice pointed to the left of her. She turned to see the Wood Elf lying in the bed, eyes closed. Richu's head lied in her lap where she stared at Nightshade with puppy eyes.

"She was the closest to the stone," Ice said. "We suspect she put herself under a spell, because when we brought her in, she had burns all across her face. Now, she doesn't have a scratch."

She smiled a fake smile. She tried to move her legs and found they were extremely sore.

"Erhm," Jauffre cleared his throat. "I'm afraid we have some grave news."

Nightshade blinked in wonder and felt that she wasn't wearing her robe, but some sort of pajamas.

"When you got knocked out, the Mythic Dawn took the Amulet of Kings."

The silence was unbearable. Nightshade stared, in shock, feeling like she was about to cry. Martin stared to pick at his thumb nail. Ice tried to cheer her up. "Well, look at the bright side—Martin survived."

There was an even worse silence after that. Jauffre sighed. "Well, we have the next step. You tell me when you're ready," he left with Baurus and the other guard. Nightshade was still in shock.

"After all we went through… I failed…." Her voice was even raspier.

"Oh, come on! Elyon wouldn't want you to give up—"

"She's practically dead!" Her outburst surprised Martin, which made him jump slightly. Ice grew mad. "Fine! Sulk around! You can't change what happened! It was either our lives or the Amulet!" He stomped out.

Nightshade and Martin sat in silence. Nightshade had sunk further down into the bed and was really sulking.

He twiddled his thumbs and said, "They're taking the stone to Vvardenfell. Apparently there's a specialist in the Mages Guild on Daedra and Daedric stuff…"

Silence filled them until Martin sighed. "Ice has got a point. What's done is done. We should move on."

"You say it nicer than Ice," Nightshade muttered. "I think I'll rest for a while. I'll—I'll come out when I'm ready."

He nodded and left with a slight smile. "Hope you feel better."

She looked at the wooden ceiling. How many days has it been? Day 1: got arrested, saw assassination, and met Ice. Day 2: Met Elyon, went to Weynon Priory. Day 3: Rescued Kvatch, got Martin. Day 4: After all that, the Amulet of Kings got stolen and Elyon was practically dead. But she had to move on. Martin was still alive; there was hope still. And the Amulet wasn't destroyed, just misallocated.

She sniffed, the tears in her eyes rolled down, but she wiped them. She got out of her bed and sat on its side to face Elyon. She no longer wore her robe but a white cotton nightgown. "You'd want me to go on, right?" she whispered to her. "I mean, it's selfish not to."

Nightshade paced the room twice, and then searched for her clothes. It was so much to absorb in just four days, her brain felt like it would implode. She stopped looking and took the blanket off her bed and wrapped it around herself. She felt so exposed and cold with a nightgown; she had never had one before.

She thought about what Ice had called her: Deadly. She must've earned the nickname after stopping the Oblivion gate. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she walked down a hall lined with a bookshelf, a table with two candles, and a vase on a pedestal.

She opened a door to see a bunch of bunks and two men sleeping on them. "Sorry," she muttered and closed the door. The only other door was one at the end of the hall. For some reason, she felt scared of opening it, scared of this hall, scared of every hall. With a shaking hand, she turned the knob, closed her eyes, and then opened them. Ice stood in front of Jauffre, looking angry. He looked at her and looking down at his feet. "Have I interrupted something?"

"No," Ice was quick to answer. "Are you ready?"

Martin sat at a round table behind them across from Baurus, looking confused. Nightshade nodded.

"Ok," Jauffre sat down next to Baurus. "We didn't hope for this to happen, but we were prepared. It seemed—inevitable." He went to a bookshelf across the room. "We have a large collection of books here, but there's an even bigger, more ancient collection in the Imperial City. We need you to get in there."

"Pardon?" she looked skeptical.

"The Mythic Dawn is mentioned in four books, both with odd names not of our language, but they have been translated and copied only once. One of them we have," he took out a red volume. "The second and third are in the Arcane University library. The fourth is unknown, but we suspect that a clue to its whereabouts is in the first three."

"How do you know?" Ice half growled.

"Well, the decoder happened to be a main leader in the Mythic Dawn before the Blades killed him."

"How did you get the first copy?" Martin seemed curious.

"He had it. All three. We sent the other two to the Arcane University to a colleague of mine, but she had a mysterious death. The Arch-Mage wanted them put in the library. We need them back."

Ice nodded. "Ok We can do that."

"What about Elyon?" Nightshade wasn't about to leave her behind.

"I don't know how long she'll be out. You need to leave as soon as possible."

"Don't worry; she'll be safe," Jauffre nodded, "Martin, too."

"Wait, what?" Ice looked like he'd been slapped. "Why? Then we'll be alone, _again_."

"His life can't be endangered," Jauffre snapped.

"Do I have a say in this?" Martin meekly asked.

The other two were silenced by the question.

"I think—I think I should stay here, but as I'm waiting and trying to help, I want to be trained so I can help them too."

Ice nodded. "Fine. We'll leave right now."

"Hold up, I want some clothes first," Nightshade stood up, clutching her blanket.

"I'll show you where the armor is," Jauffre put the book on the table and walked out. Nightshade followed. "I'll meet you at the front gate," Ice called.

She followed him down the hall, into the barracks she had falsely entered before, and down a trapdoor into a basement made into a small black smith. A Nord with coal smudged all over his clothes and face stood to watch them. "This young lady is looking for some armor. Think you can find some her size?"

He nodded and started to search. She looked around. Lots of different armor and weapons lined the small room, none of which could fit her. Then she remembered her katana. "What did you do with my sword?"

"You mean the Akaviri Katana? I'm having it returned to its rightful owners."

"What?" she looked at him.

"That was Captain Reynalt's katana. You borrowed it. Her family will be happy to know it was put to good cause."

"Can I have a different katana?"

He looked around to pick up a katana that seemed to glow a red-orange on its blade. He picked it up gingerly and held it with both hands with the palms underneath the blade and hilt. "This is a powerful blade known as an Akavari Sunderblade, forged in Skyrim, second to only the ancient blade Goldbrand from the Daedra themselves. Its firepower is great. Use it with care."

Nightshade nodded and took it. She thought she could see out of the corner of her eye the Nord glare at her. Jauffre also looked a little annoyed. "Did I do something wrong?"

"You don't know the custom for accepting a sword, do you?" Jauffre smiled sympathetically. "You kneel and accept the sword from me. Oh well. It's yours anyway."

She was given some light leather armor, for everything else was too big. "I'll ask our smith if he can make you some armor. He's great at that," Jauffre promised. After putting it on, she followed him out to the front gate, past the Main Hall and all the guards outside training. She saw Silver in a small stable slowly eating hay.

"Hey, took you long enough," Ice growled not particularly at Nightshade but more at Jauffre. He had his backpack again strapped onto his back that he was leaning on with a wall behind it. Jauffre frowned, and then turned to her. "Good luck, Nightshade. As soon as you get the two books, return back here."

She nodded. "See you later."

They walked out into the snow, feeling tense. Ice stared angrily at the ground. Nightshade seemed worried. The air seemed tense. It was only an hour ago that just right there they were attacked.

"Do you need help with the backpack?" her voice was barely a whisper, a wisp of breath.

"No."

She bit her lip. "Are you ok?"

"What do you think?" he snarled so loudly it rebounded in the sky to echo in the quiet mountains. She looked down. "Sorry," she muttered, not feeling up to quarrelling.

They walked down the road for a while, the sun slowly rising, but clouds started to move in quickly. Ice kicked the snow fiercely. "Shit, I'm sorry. You didn't deserve to be yelled at." He looked away shamefully, his short hair messy in the back. Nightshade shook her head. "It's ok. I don't need to know why you hate Jauffre."

He grinned. "Know what? With you here I think we'll defeat Mehrunes Dagon easily!"

She smiled modestly. "I wouldn't say that."

"Yeah, but without me, there'd be no you, so really I'm the hero!"

Nightshade punched him hard in the shoulder, but not angrily. He laughed.

"So, where are we heading?"

"Well, we're going to Cheydinhal."

"What for?"

"Well, there's no getting into the university without recommendations from all the guild hall leaders. I happen to only need one more, in Cheydinhal, to be accepted into the place. If Elyon was here, we wouldn't need to."

"Why not?"

"Because she's a member already from Morrowind. They don't have the same ritual they have here, though. Once I get the recommendation, we'll go to the Imperial City—"

Nightshade stopped in her tracks. "The Imperial City?"

"Yeah. What's the matter?" He understood without her telling him. "Oh, that. Well, we'll have to change up a bit in Cheydinhal. I'm sure they're looking for you. I need a haircut anyway." He touched his hair. "It's hideous."

She laughed. "Off to Cheydinhal then!"


	9. Chapter 9: The Black Gem

Chapter 9: The Black Gem

The sun had set by the time they reached the large gate into the city. This would be the first city Nightshade had ever entered besides the Imperial one. She was awake, unlike Ice who was half asleep. After she slapped him in the side he woke up.

The guards glared at them. "Who are you?"

"Travelers," Nightshade said. "We've come from the mountains near Bruma."

"You don't look like you're from Bruma," the other guard growled. "Shouldn't you be wearing furs and stuff?"

"Stop being stereo-typical," Ice snapped, "And let us in."

"They don't look like assassins. Fine," he said, "but no trouble, you hear?"

They entered through a large, wooden gate with the Cheydinhal emblem. She was in awe at the seal, and stared up at it as they went through.

"Come on, let's find the Guild Hall," Ice tugged at her arm and led her through the quiet streets. Everything seemed closed and few people walked around; most of them stared as they went past. The buildings were designed with triangular roofs, wooden frames, and white starch or cement. The yards were small, but filled with grass trampled on and flowerbeds of grassland flowers were under windows, neatly blooming. They passed a large building with red and black banners with its own emblem. "The Fighter's Guild," Ice explained, and then said, "Here it is!"

Right next to it was an equally large building with blue and green banners with an odd eye in the middle. Ice ran up the steps, his robe swishing by his black shoes, and used an odd-shaped key to open the front door. Nightshade watched and then followed him inside.

They entered a dark room, large in size, with four sets of stairs. Two led down into two rooms on either side of them, while the other two led up. Ice bit his lip. "Hello? Anyone here?" He decided to use the same spell he used to get them through the dark: a light spell that lighted him and cast long shadows over the counters and tables.

Something missed Nightshade's ear and hit the wall behind her. She took out her sword. Ice took out his daggers, and a light came from the small room to the right.

An Argonian woman glared back, her green and blue scales shining in the light, her lizard-like face was tired, one hand lighting a candle on a table, the other in a fist pointing at them. "I'll fire another lightning spell if you don't tell me what's going on."

Ice put away his daggers and Nightshade let her guard down slightly. "Are you the guild hall leader?"

"Yes, for now. I'm Deetsan. Who are—"

"I'm Ice Enangui, the new associate. All I need is your recommendation to become an apprentice," he bowed to her swiftly.

She snorted. "Bit late, aren't you?" Deetsan looked at Nightshade. "And you are?"

"Nightshade. I'm not in the guild."

"Look, we need a place to stay for the night. You can give me the recommendation tomorrow—"

"Oh no," she shook her head. "The only available bed was the recent Branch leaders. I doubt you want to sleep there, let alone in the same bed."

She had read Nightshade's mind. "What happened to him?"

"Falcar? He was a Necromancer. Killed two associates before we found the two black soul gems in his drawer. He disappeared after that."

"Black soul gems?"

"They're soul gems used to trap human souls necromancer's use," Ice muttered.

Deetsan sighed. "Well, there's an inn near the front gate, but you'll have to pay. You two are Dark Elves, you'll fit in. And I do have a task you can do," she looked at Ice. "There's rumored a necromancer is currently lodging there. Get rid of him, kill him if you must."

"Why so—undecided?"

"They say he's not from Cyrodiil. They're a little more lax in other countries about necromancy. He may not understand. Make sure he does. Now leave. I'm loosing precious sleeping time. Without sleep, it stresses my scales…" she muttered to herself as she carried the candle back down into the room and into the basement. Ice groaned.

"Great."

They left silently and went back towards the entrance. "I say we sleep outside so it'll be free."

"Don't be stupid," Nightshade said. "I'm not spending another night in a sleeping bag. Can't you spare some coins for a good night's sleep?"

After a fickle debate they entered the inn. It was small, but had a little area where it was loud with many Dark Elves. They stopped to look at him. Ice smiled sheepishly, and they went back to talking.

"Excuse me, can we have two rooms?" Nightshade pushed her way to talk to a thin, tall Dunmer woman who was slightly tones with muscles. She looked at her, checking her. "Twenty drakes."

"Deal," she handed her the coins. "Here, another three for a bottle on wine," Ice shoved his arm forward. She frowned and gave him the cheapest she had.

"Wine? What for?"

"To drink, what else? There's a party going on and I want to be apart of it." He happily trotted to an empty table near the far wall. Nightshade followed.

"You know, drinking that much wine can't be good for you, especially at your age."

"It's only a bottle," he took a drink. Behind Nightshade was a fireplace blazing, but before that was another table, made for two, but someone was sitting in it.

"Uh, Nightshade, look."

She turned around to see a person with a black hood over his head and his eyes face them. His arms were folded and his head seemed to tilt slightly downward. He wore a dark blue cloak, almost black, and wore a gold band with a black stone shining on his right ring finger.

"Is he looking at me?" she whispered and turned around to face Ice. He shrugged, and then grinned. "Hey, I dare you to go tell him off."

"What? Why? That's rude," she folded her arms in a similar way.

"Dude, if you don't, who knows what might happen. Just say I didn't warn you."

She stared down at the table, thinking, and then said, "Fine. I'll do it."

He smirked. "Alright, do it."

She got up and walked towards the person under the hood. "Hey, err, sir, ma'am, can you—you're sort of giving me the creeps."

The person just stared off and was now looking at Ice, who had raised an eyebrow. "Err, hey—"

She had poked him slightly. He moved, grunted, and then looked at her, or appeared to be. "What do you want?"

"You're freaking us out at the other table."

He took off his hood to reveal a Dark Elf face. He had sky-blue skin, or maybe darker, with black hair that touched his shoulders gently. His red eyes squinted up at her, and then he yawned. "How? I was only sleeping…"

Ice had started to laugh at the other table. Nightshade grew red with embarrassment. "You—you weren't staring at us?"

"No."

Ice laughed harder and pounded on the table with a fist. The other people were starting to look, but didn't stop talking.

"Oh, you thought I was watching you?" he laughed softly, almost raspy. "I'm sorry if I seemed that way. I must've dozed off. It gets boring in here sometimes."

He looked at her. Nightshade, through her embarrassment, saw he must've been at least ten years older than her, maybe more. He noticed how embarrassed she was.

"It's ok, it's an honest mistake," he thought for a minute. Ice hadn't stopped laughing. "My name is Crow Asawyaka," he held out a gloved hand.

"I'm Nightshade. Nice to meet you."

He looked at her oddly, like he was analyzing her, and then smiled. "Same here." They shook hands. "Why don't I treat you to some food? You look famished. And bring your friend, too."

They both got up. Crow went to the counter while Nightshade went to the still-laughing Ice. "He's invited us to his table," she said darkly. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah, yeah," he breathed, and they went back to Crow. "What do you want to eat?" he asked.

"A nice steak!" Ice seemed slightly tipsy even though he only had a few swallows of wine.

"I'll have some bread and cheese," Nightshade said. Crow looked at her. "Ok. I'll have some fruit."

They sat back down and dug in. Ice was in very high spirits. "So, what was your name again?"

"I'm Crow Asawyaka. I'm from Vvardenfell."

"So am I!" he laughed. "I'm an Hptilu."

"I thought you said your last name was Enigui," Nightshade looked disgusted.

"Enigui, that's it, forgot for a moment," he stopped eating. "You're a native, huh? I can tell by the name. I didn't know they gave kids Imperial language names."

"I translated it when I left my camp," he muttered. It was plain he didn't want to talk about it. Nightshade changed the subject.

"So, do you know anything about a necromancer in town?"

He looked at her. "No. Why? Is there?"

She nodded. "We're supposed to find him for a recommendation," Ice hiccupped.

"How do you know it's not a girl?"

"Girls don't take up necromancy."

"Says who?"

"Ok," Crow intervened. "I'll tell you one thing: Cheydinhal is filled with shadowy characters due to the rumor that the Dark Brotherhood hideout is here. But there was one man. Diminutive he was; I think he was a bosmer, and he was creeping around last night under my window of my room. Don't know what he's up to, but it's pretty suspicious to me."

"Cool!" Ice sprang up. "All we have to do is go to bed and he'll be sneaking under our windows. Thanks, Crow, see you in the morning!" He grabbed Nightshade's arm and pulled her out of the room. "Uh, see you later!" she called. Crow watched, and then sipped his drink.

* * *

Nightshade shivered under her blankets, the cool night air blowing through her open window. Ice had insisted she should leave it open so she could hear the footsteps, but now she contemplated on closing it.

She had dozed off for about an hour or two when the cold woke her up. The sound from downstairs had died off and the whole building was silent. The only sounds were distant snoring and the trees rustling.

"Damn," she couldn't take it anymore. She sat up and was about to approach the window when she heard it: footsteps leading towards her window. They were light, but leaves and dry grass blades crunched, making them slightly louder. They were slow and stealthy. Nightshade, which always slept with some clothes on, ran quickly to the window, ignoring her feet's cry of coldness.

She looked out, her red hair messy in a ponytail. Her black face blended in with the night. She called out softly, "Anyone there? I've had enough attacks for one day."

The leaf-crunching immediately stopped. She wished there was some way to wake up Ice without leaving the window. She called out again, "If you come out now I promise I won't hurt you."

Nothing responded. She sighed. "Then you force me to come out into the cold."

Nightshade climbed out the window clumsily, but dropped down into crunching, frost-covered grass with both her legs. Determined, she took her sword with her, her new Akavari Sunderblade, and gripped it tight with both hands even though it was a one-hand blade. With light steps, she advanced towards Ice's window in the moon-lighted night. She saw nothing move, or heard any other footsteps but her own, and knocked on the ledge underneath Ice's window. When no answer came, she poked her head through. "Hey, lazy, get up."

He grunted and turned away in his bed. In anger, she hit the hilt of her sword on the window sill hard. "Get up you lazy bastard! This was your idea!"

He grumbled and rolled out of bed, his blankets forming a cocoon around him, and he fell to the floor. Nightshade snickered while Ice muttered, "It's not nice to swear at sleeping people."

"Just get up already."

Ice wore his robe when he untangled himself from the bedspread. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, and before Nightshade grabbed him and pulled him through the window, he grabbed his daggers from the nightstand.

"I heard him over there," she whispered, pointing towards her window. Ice frowned, but followed, their footsteps loud in the night. And then Nightshade saw the outline of the figure, hunched over a flowerbed.

"Freeze!" Ice shouted, and a few seconds later he made a light spell. "Don't try to run or we'll hurt you!"

Crow was right. A meek Wood Elf with his knees shaking had turned violently and held his hands up. "I did—didn't mean t—to do i—it—"

"Shut up, filthy necromancer!" Ice pointed his sharp dagger at him. "You don't deserve mercy!"

"Ne—necromancer?" The bosmer looked confused. "Me? N—no."

"Shut up!"

Nightshade heard it before Ice had started talking. Something was in the trees above them. "Uh, Ice—Ice, look out!"

A person jumped down, his black robe looking like a parachute from above, and landed in front of them. "Wait! He's not who you want!"

Ice looked surprised. Nightshade didn't. "Figures it would be you."

Crow held his hands up, seemingly defensive. "I'm the necromancer. He's just a petty thief whose jealous of everyone's flowers he's been stealing them for himself."

The Wood Elf waved, but Ice glared at him, daring him to try and run for it, so he stayed put.

"Look, I knew the Mage's Guild would want me out and find out what's going on, but I swear I haven't practiced necromancy in years! I've never practiced necromancy on Cyrodiil soil. I've never killed an innocent person for a body. I swear on Hiricine's eye I'm over with the necromancy!"

Ice put his daggers down. Nightshade looked at him suspiciously.

"You can search me and my room; you won't find any necromancer stuff."

Ice shrugged. "Deetsan said she wanted the necromancer gone. That doesn't mean we have to kill him." He turned to Crow. "You need to leave Cheydinhal."

"I've got nowhere to go." Crow looked at the ground and put his hands in his pockets.

"You—you can come with us to the Imperial city." Nightshade felt almost reluctant to ask, but something inside her told her to. He had given up necromancy, after all. "But no funny business."

He smiled. "Ok. Deal."

"Finally, let's get some sleep," Ice yawned, and didn't notice the Wood Elf had disappeared into the night. "Good night, people."

Nightshade hadn't fully trusted Crow yet, so she said, "Good night," and walked up to her room window while watching him out of the side of her eye.

Crow watched her leave. "It's finally begun," he muttered, his breath starting to show as a cloud in the air. "May the gods be with us and may the future be brighter." His ring shined in the moonlight as he looked at it. "I will avenge you."


	10. Chapter 10: The Darkhooded Assassin

Chapter 10: The Dark-hooded Assassin

Nightshade woke up at around six in the morning, groggy and tired from the night. She trudged to Ice's room to wake him up and take the grooming supplies from his backpack. She nudged him, where he groaned and pulled the covers further over his head. She gave up after that, and took a comb, a pair of scissors, some soap, a mirror, and a towel. She believed in good hygiene.

She went back into her room and combed her hair, which needed washing again. She thought about how she was going to cut it. She simply took the scissors and started to clip away. The vibrant red hair fell near her knees as she snipped away, and soon she was left with short hair with uneven ends, just like she liked it, and was between her shoulder-blades and head. She grinned at herself, satisfied with the results, and swooshed it around, all the layers flying through the air in a whip-lash motion. She washed her face with dry soap and went back into Ice's room where he was asleep under the thin covers.

"Ice, get up or I'll cut your hair in bed."

He snorted, and then slowly rolled off and landed on the floor. She helped him up, and started to snip at his hair. After a while, he started to awake and make comments on what she was doing. In the end, his black hair was no longer frizzy, flipped inward, and to his shoulders with thin bangs on either side of his face. Instead, it was uneven, like hers, and shorter, and the bangs were bushy and full. He at first scowled at himself, making odd noises, and then nodded. "I guess it's not bad."

They got dressed (Nightshade wasn't going to wear armor to bed) and went into the main room, glittery and shiny like new horse shoes. Crow was already waiting. He looked tired, with dark circles under his eyes, and weakly smiled. "Nice haircuts, but I think you'll need more than that if you're fugitives."

"It's just so we won't look suspicious," Nightshade took a loaf of bread when she saw the woman at the counter not looking. Ice stole a piece of cheese and two bottles of wine in one swift motion.

Crow, too tired to argue, shrugged and started walking out. The other two, munching on their prizes, decided to go to the Mages Guild to see Deetsan while Crow would wait for them outside. The Argonian agreed to send a recommendation as soon as she wrote one and would send it. They left, Ice beaming and glowing with pride. He gloated to her about his other recommendations where she was only half listening. As the trio, now reunited outside the city gate, started on their journey to the Imperial City, Ice continued his long stories, not even out of breath, and the other two wished he would just shut up.

"…so, when I entered the cave, there were, like, five zombies coming after me. I wasn't even scared because I knew what to do with them—"

"Does he usually talk this much?" Crow had his hood up despite the sunny day so his eyes were covered in shadow. Nightshade shrugged. "Of what I've seen from him, I think so."

"How long have you two known each other?" he looked at the younger dunmer, who was now talking to himself.

"A few days. He's the reason I'm in this mess."

"What mess?"

That was right. Crow didn't know a thing about the Amulet of Kings, the Mythic Dawn, the Exploding Stone, as Ice had dubbed it. She wasn't sure if they could trust him yet; her instincts were still against him. When she didn't answer, Crow switched the question, but a look of worry was on his face.

"So, why are you going to the Imperial City?"

"Hey, is anyone even listening?" Ice had his hands to his hips, angry and pouting. "I'm trying to entertain you people and you don't care?"

"No offense, Ice, but boasting isn't very entertaining, especially when no one wanted to know in the first place," Nightshade's face was that of pure, utter disinterest. Steaming, he folded his arms and turned to look at the road ahead, muttering things under his breath.

"Sorry, Crow, what did you say?"

"Why are you going to the Imperial City?"

She looked at the ground. "We're going to the Arcane University."

"Why are you guys trying to disguise yourselves?"

She kicked at the cobblestones under their feet while she walked. "It's a—long story."

Surprising enough, he didn't enquire any further, but stared ahead. She looked at him. How old was he? Thirty? Maybe in his late twenties? He looked stern, and yet, in some weird way, alone. He was different that Owyn, who was always yelling at her. They must've been the same age.

"Crow, why are you in Cyrodiil?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. I've been here before, but not for very long."

"What's it like, in Morrowind? Is it better or worse?"

"Than what?" he laughed that same, soft laugh. "I guess Cyrodiil is more civilized, in a way, but Morrowind had character. Here it's basically four types of scenery: snow, grass, swamp, or water. In Morrowind, they had mountains that seemed impossible to climb, areas covered in ash and dirt, not to mention the grasslands and swamps, but it had places everywhere where there were villages with people that had been living there for generations. There were shrines of Dwemers and Daedra and forts that could teleport you to another place. But the prize of Morrowind that no country ever has is Red Mountain."

"Red Mountain?" Why did that sound vaguely familiar?

"Yeah. It was in the heart of the country, where red hot ash falls every day. It's not much of a tourist attraction, but every native must take a pilgrimage to be accepted. They say it was where the Corpus Disease came from, and where Dagoth Ur was killed at the summit."

He paused to stare off into space, and then looked at her confused face. "You don't know Morrowind's history, do you?"

Nightshade shook her head. He sighed, not that of annoyance but one of regret. "The Nerevarine, a prophet, survived a terrible disease known as the Corpus disease. It turns you into a zombie and kills you slowly and painfully. It is contagious and was incurable at the time, but the Nerevarine survived without the whole zombie thing. After that, he climbed to the summit of Red Mountain, now immune to the disease, and killed Dagoth Ur, the last Dagoth lord of the sixth house, and stopped Molag Bal from destroying the world."

"Are you the Nerevarine?"

He laughed, this time louder. Ice, who was silently listening in, turned around to glare at him.

"Me, the Nerevarine? That happened when I was… seven," he thought, and lightly smiled. "I'd be old if that was me. No, I guess you can say I didn't save Morrowind from a Daedric prince."

"You never know," Nightshade grinned. She noticed Crow was different than yesterday. He wasn't as open, or loud, and seemed more confined. Perhaps he was drunk yesterday, and that's why he was different. She looked at Ice and saw he refused to make eye contact, so the decision was hers again.

"Crow, the reason why we're going to the Arcane University…"

* * *

The stars aligned the sky with bright intensity over their small camp. They were covered by trees and had spent half an hour setting it up. Crow had made a fire while Nightshade and Ice bickered while putting up the tents. There were three now, and soon, Nightshade suspected, four when Elyon recovered. She wondered what she would think of Crow. She didn't tell him about her much; just that she was a Wood Elf, just in case.

"God, I'm starving," Ice sat on a rock next to the fire. The night was cold, and Nightshade had a blanket over her. Crow just sat there, practicing his spells. He wore nothing but a black robe. How could he not be cold?

They had found out Crow was a mage of Conjuration and Mysticism. He kept creating a dagger and amusing them by summoning scamps and skeletons. He seemed slightly surprised by their adventure, but creating things seemed to calm him. This slightly nerved Nightshade at first, but it wore off when the skeleton shook her hand clumsily. After that, he started to cast detect life spells and manipulative spells. He enjoyed bugging Ice with a rock by making it follow him, and then was joined by leaves and sticks, until behind Ice were a large ball of earth. Now, he was casting a spell that made him shine for a while. "I'm reflecting spells," he said.

Now, Crow was serving soup to the children Dark Elves, still shining with his dispel spell. They ate, in silence, too tired to speak. Ice went to bed, or into his sleeping bag, first, and Nightshade went. Crow was still sitting there, on silent vigil, when she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

Nightshade awoke, face sweaty, her black skin moist with the heat of her sleeping bag, which was warmer than the bed at the inn. She couldn't remember her dream—something about screaming and Conjuration tests—and crawled out of her small tent. There, Crow had left and was asleep in his tent, and the fire was reduced to small, glowing embers. She poked it with a stick, and then put in some more fuel. It worked, and in front of her was a small, yet warm, fire.

Toasty, she pulled up a blanket around her shoulders where her pajamas were some rather tattered-looking clothes. She noticed they were what she was wearing at the Bloodworks. She thought about Owyn and Isabel Andronicus and all those fighters. She didn't want to go back to scrubbing the floors and shining the armor with hardly a meal. If they found her, who knows what Owyn would do. After all, he wasn't about to pay someone to keep the blood there, and who would want to? Not even a beggar would for his meager pay. She was his property—the common slave—but to the guards and lawyers and rulers he was her guardian, and therefore making her a runaway. Runaways were never treated very well, and Owyn would certainly want her back. This was an adventure of a lifetime, to save the empire, and if Owyn found her, she'd be done for—

There was a sudden buzz past her ear. Alarmed, Nightshade saw an arrow land behind her on the ground, the tail pointed upward to the trees. She ducked, and if she hadn't another arrow would've hit her square in the forehead. She screamed, and then remembered her katana was back in her tent; she felt stupid for not taking it out with her. Crow, still in his robe, was quick to get up in a split second, barely muttering an incantation before a Daedric-style one-handed sword and a shield appeared in his hands. With amazing speed, he ran towards the tree, blocking several arrows. Someone jumped down from a tree and started to run at him with a long dagger glowing orange much like Nightshade's Akavari Sunderblade, but less intense. Crow clashed swords and the two started to fight in quick motions. Nightshade crawled to her tent and grabbed her sword.

He hadn't made much damage to the hooded attacker when Nightshade tried to attack. She failed and was blocked deftly. The attacker suddenly turned on Crow and sliced him in the side. He recoiled, his hand slapped into the wound to stop the bleeding. Anger flared through her, her grasp on the blade tightened and with tremendous strength slashed at the attacker, who dodged just barely. Ice had crawled out of his tent to help Crow and watched them.

The attacker suddenly turned and fled into the bushes, but Nightshade wouldn't rest. She ran after her, sword pointed down as she ran, the orange blade looking like it was on fire. She gritted her teeth and noticed fog was starting to slowly form. She stopped in a clearing, somehow sensing the presence. She could see the figure: girl-like, with thin thighs and slight curves. She attacked, her hood down, but was blocked by the katana. Nightshade could see her face—thin and bony, but yet attractive to any guy if she didn't seem so—dark. She was an Imperial with auburn hair, tinted slightly with red, even in the dark. Bangs fell to the side of her face with three lone strands hanging down her face. She then let go. "I'll get you next time," she hissed, and disappeared.

Ice came through the bushes and if he hadn't have grabbed her, she would've followed. She was breathing heavily and dropped her sword.

"Damn, that was scary," Ice said, cautiously letting her go. "What's that?"

A piece of paper was lying there. She unfolded it to read:

_D. L.,_

_Your next target is a girl known only as Nightshade, last seen in Cheydinhal. Terminate her for 10,000 drakes._

Nightshade frowned. Ice muttered, "The Dark Brotherhood."

So they knew who she was now. No other information, just initials, her location, and the reward. Not why, not how, just that.

They walked back to Crow, who had healed using a potion. He watched them and Ice showed him the note. He shook his head. "Worse than the Morag Tong."

Nightshade was too tired to ask what that was, crawled back into her sleeping bag, closed her eyes, and fell asleep. She'd think about it tomorrow; all she knew was that that wasn't the last she'd be seeing of D.L.


	11. Chapter 11: So Sudden

Chapter 11: So Sudden!

Nightshade walked along in intense silence, her sword to her side in its hilt and her brown leather armor made no noise. Ice seemed awkwardly silent as well, while Crow was just plainly confused, but he wasn't going to be the one to break their silence. They hadn't spoken all morning, except for simple questions like, "What's for breakfast? Are we going now? Ready?"

Ice looked up to see the tall tower of the Palace in the near distance. He pointed and made a futile attempt for conversation. "Look, we're almost there." Crow looked at him, but Nightshade didn't stop walking.

Her eyebrows were knitted together in thought. D.L.? She knew no one by those initials, but that was barely the tip of the iceberg. Who wanted her dead besides the Mythic Dawn? They were assassins, why couldn't they do it? No, this was someone else, someone that truly hated her. But who? And why? She knew no one she had ever upset personally. And what about that anger she flew into? She had never acted like that before. Why did she get so angry at a cut in Crow's side? Why was she so angry at Ice for not letting her attack D.L.? She probably would've done the same thing if it were him, so why was there anger?

Her thought process was interrupted when Ice said, "Uh, I think we shouldn't go into the city."

Damn, she had forgotten about the city. She didn't feel ready to enter her prison again, so she nodded. "Let's go around, then."

They hiked for about an hour. Nightshade decided it was best not to think about it for a while and started to talk to Crow, who merely nodded. He seemed even quieter, which was odd.

"Hey, look!" Ice was pointing at a bridge above them. "If we can climb up this cliff we can reach the Arcane University."

Nightshade noticed how they were at sea level, while the city, including the Arcane University, was all elevated and above them. She frowned, not feeling up to rock climbing, but it was better than going through the city.

They climbed for several minutes before Ice, being the first to climb, reached his hand upward and heaved him up onto the final ledge. The other two behind him, he looked down and waited. Nightshade grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. "I can do it myself."

"Well, then, why didn't you?"

She glared at him and looked out across the bridge where the city gate was leading to the Arboretum. If she had turned all the way behind, she would've seen the large gate that led to the Arcane University that was just right there, but she stopped midway when she saw the person sitting on a self-made stone bench of rocks. She looked up from her book and smiled.

"Elyon, you're alright!" She ran to her to hug her in the affectionate way friends do. Ice was contemplating on doing the same, but instead he waved and said, "Hi!" Richu, whom had been lying on the ground barked in recognition.

Elyon laughed. "Well, well, took you long enough. Where'd you go, The Black Marsh?"

"We had to get a recommendation so Ice could go in. We didn't know you'd be here. We even made a new friend—Elyon, this is—"

The Wood Elf was already staring at the Dark Elf, whom was taller than her, with a shocked expression. She ran at him, and for a moment Nightshade thought she was going to attack him, but instead she embraced him so hard he made an "Oomph" sound.

"Hi…Elyon…" he wheezed between breaths. Ice stared, bewildered.

"By the Nine I thought I'd never see you again! How are things? Why are you in Cyrodiil? How come you never visited? What happened—"

"You two know each other?" Ice stupidly interrupted Elyon's babbling.

"Yeah! You didn't tell him about me?"

"Well," Nightshade scratched the back of her head nervously, "I thought you might want to remain inconspicuous…"

"Might I ask _how _you know each other?" Ice couldn't quite grasp the concept.

"We were in Solsthiem together. I remember he was really rude, but he was my friend's partner in the East Empire Company. We haven't seen each other in years!"

Crow seemed paralyzed in place, but sort of loosened up after a while. Why was Elyon talking so nicely about this ex-necromancer?

"I see you've been in Cyrodiil for a while," Crow interjected. "What have you been doing?"

"I came here a few months ago to be a traveling merchant, but now I'm helping to save the world. You?"

"Went back to Morrowind for a while, and then came here about a year ago."

Ice's face went from astonished to annoyed, which for some reason got rid of Nightshade's dislike for him. "Uh, yeah, I like nice little reunions as much as the next guy, but we have to get those books for Martin, people!"

"Right" Elyon turned to Crow. "Only Ice and I will be able to enter the University itself. What will you two do?"

"I need to get ready to head back to Bruma and get some food and stuff," Crow looked at Nightshade questionably, almost worriedly. "I'll just wait here."

"Ok, but don't blame us if we take too long," Ice grinned devilishly.

* * *

By the Nine, she hated it when Ice was right.

She had been sitting on that wooden bench for about half an hour already and she was bored stiff.

They had entered the lobby and talked to the rather mean lobbyist, a sour-looking Wood Elf that leered at them from behind her odd-looking instrument she called, "Glasses" (Nightshade had asked rather ignorantly and made a bad first-impression). Then she was left alone.

The lobby was made of wood and was circular. There was a small, round platform with a large rune and glowed purple. To the right of it were three doors, all in a circular row, and to the right of those was the desk with the sour bosmer and to the right of that was the way in. In the center of it all were two wooden benches where Nightshade sat, feeling lonely and deserted. However, it gave her more time to think.

Solsthiem. Elyon had described the creatures there when she first met her, but never really told her much about it. So she decided to try one last time to be friendly to the bosmer lobbyist.

"Do you know where Solsthiem is?"

"Let me guess: you're going to tell me," she didn't look up from her book.

Confused, she said, "No, that's why I asked."

She sighed and looked down at her from her desk. "Solsthiem is a snowy province north of Vvardenfell but it's considered part of Morrowind. It's famous for housing Skyrim Nords since the second era. It's also the mother of the Canis Lupus disease. Any other questions?"

"No, thank you," the annoyed tone told Nightshade not to bother her anymore. The Wood Elf turned back to her book.

Now officially bored, the adolescent lied down on the bench, knees bent, and stared at the ceiling, her red hair falling back and touching the ground slightly. Her armor made it a little uncomfortable, but she endured it.

It was so sudden Nightshade almost fell off the bench. The middle door had swung open very loudly and violently to show a very angry, female Dark Elf. She had dark gray hair and blue skin that was barely daunted with wrinkles. Her robes were shiny turquoise with purple trimming and gold design. She wore thick, red gloves and her matching eyes were on fire. But the one thing that truly surprised Nightshade was the fact she held the Exploding Stone under arm.

"Who the hell sent me this?" she stomped up to the slightly surprised bosmer, who pushed her glasses further up her nose and looked at. "No idea, ma'am."

"No idea? Shall I read you the note?" Before she could reply, the dunmer pulled out of her robe a small, crumbled-up piece of paper. "'Dear L, I want you to examine this for me. It's from Oblivion. Handle with care. Please send it to the Arcane University. E.' Who in Azura's name is E.? I know too many people with the initial E.!"

E…. Elyon. But Nightshade was amused by this.

"Please, ma'am, I know nothing of this," the lobbyist was very calm despite the fact an angry lady was yelling in her face.

"Fine, I'll go up to Arch-Mage Traven and ask him!" It was at this point Nightshade intervened. "Excuse me, I know—"

She didn't finish her sentence, for the Dark Elf had fainted.

* * *

Muttering incantations, the lobbyist Wood Elf had revived the fainted Dark Elf that was now lying on the bench Nightshade had been sitting on. Nightshade noticed that the newcomer looked about forty or so, coming into middle-age. She murmured something inaudible and squinted up at them.

"Feeling better now?" The bosmer inquired. "Now, I know nothing about that stone or anyone with the initial E. Good day." She walked out of the door to the far left and disappeared.

"Are you ok?" Nightshade helped her up. She nodded and looked depressed. Nightshade decided to ask, "Why did you faint?"

"Oh, I thought you were someone else. Clearly, you aren't." She looked at her. "I'm Elyza Black, but I'm better known as Lyze."

"I'm Nightshade. That's an odd name for a Dark Elf."

She laughed. "No stranger than yours. It's Imperial, that's why I changed it. Lyze sounds better, no?"

She had the ever-so-slightest trace of an accent that Nightshade could barely pick up. "I know who sent you that."

"You do?" Lyze suddenly looked happy.

"Yeah. Elyon did."

"Elyon!"

"Yeah. She knows a lot of people."

"Elyon. God, I haven't seen her in years. How is she?"

"Fine. She just recovered from a serious burn."

She suddenly scowled. "Ah, that's why I was angry. Do you have any idea what this stone can do?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I was there."

"You were? God, how did you survive?"

Confused, she tilted her head. "What happened?"

She suddenly exploded: "I received this stone via teleportation (all Mages Guild Halls are linked together) and told my apprentice to open it, but he burned himself so I took it, saying it wasn't that hot, but his fingers were red, so I healed them for him, and then I read the note and knew what to do. So at about eight o'clock I go to a tavern to ask someone I know about it and stayed there for a few hours, and then at about two in the morning there was a loud boom and the whole city shook, so I went outside to see the Mages Guild in ruins. Luckily, no one died," she added.

"Really?" Two o'clock. That sounded like the time when she attacked D.L.

"Yeah, so I came stomping here after I was done there. Mind now, that there's an hour time difference from Morrowind and Cyrodiil."

There was a pause. "So, what did you find out?" Nightshade asked.

"Perhaps I should just tell Elyon that," It was clear Lyze didn't fully trust her.

"What do you do?"

"Pardon?"

"What's your profession in the guild?"

Lyze grinned. "I'm an Alchemist. I taught Elyon all she needs to know about making potions. That girl is a healing genius. What do you do?"

"Nothing, really," If Lyze wasn't going to trust her, she couldn't trust Lyze.

"How do you know Elyon?"

"We met a few days ago while we were going to Chorrol. She helped us."

"What are you doing here?"

"Elyon and Ice are in the library. I'm not allowed in, not being part of the guild and all."

There was silence after that. Lyze looked at her. "Bored, eh? Here," she pulled out a small brown book that was burned off in the corners. "That was the best book they could salvage. I want you to have it."

"Thanks," Nightshade took it cautiously and opened it. _Destruction Spells for Beginners _it said.

"Well, I'm needed back in Balmora. Here are the notes I took on the Sigil Stone. Good-bye, Nightshade. Oh, have you no last name?"

"No."

"How peculiar," Lyze said, and went back out of the middle door, Sigil Stone in her hands.

Nightshade, now completely alone, felt compelled to read the notes. She opened them—

_The Oblivion Stone—properly called the Sigil Stone. Made of matter and magic from the mortal and immortal realms. Used to keep the immortal realm of Oblivion in the mortal realm. Is used as a sort of anchor and defeats the magical barriers that keep Oblivion away. Warm to the touch—makes one feel faint or burn. Possible energy absorption. Explodes unexpectedly._

Energy absorption? How odd. She read it again and suddenly grew curious about how she found all these answers. However, a beaming Ice and an amused Elyon came back. Ice had a new staff which caused Telekinesis ("Is that cool or what?"). Elyon had the books, both titled, "Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes."

"Lyze came by to drop off the notes for you," Nightshade handed them over to Elyon.

"Really? Wow, I can't believe I missed her," she smiled sadly. "Did you tell her anything?"

"Not really."

"Did she tell you anything?"

"Just that it exploded again and burnt down the Balmora Mage's Guild."

"Oh," she opened to door and almost ran into another Dark Elf, whom Nightshade didn't recognize.

"Are you—" she looked at an envelope—"Nightshade?"

"Yeah…" she looked cautious.

"Well, this is for you," she handed over the envelope. "It's from a friend."

She opened it with the other two looking over her shoulders and reading the context.

Ice suddenly gave a gasp. "By the Nine, you've been invited to the Thieves Guild. Lucky!"


	12. Chapter 12: Lucky Days

Chapter 12: Lucky Days

"I knew it!" Ice jumped and twirled at the same time. "I _told _you the Thieves Guild existed! I knewstaying with you would make them come! I _knew _it!"

Elyon bit her lip. "So they found out." Richu looked confused and growled at Ice when he almost jumped on her.

"What do I do with it?" Nightshade didn't seem very concerned, just a little surprised. "I'm not joining."

"_Give it to me!_" Ice attempted to grab it out of her hand, but Nightshade, being taller, held it high and out of his reach. "What will you do with it?"

"Please? I _really _want to join! You don't know how _long _I've waited! I'll go and join! I can finally become a _proper_ thief!"

"Hold up," Elyon took a step closer to him. "You're going to leave? What about Martin? What about the fate of Tamriel, Oblivion, and Mehrunes Dagon?"

"You guys can handle it. Anyway, what do I care?"

At this Nightshade flushed with anger. "What do _you _care? You bloody live here! There won't _be _any thieves or anything to steal if Tamriel is sucked into Oblivion!"

"So, not my problem."

It took Ice several seconds to understand what happened next, for all he could see was a black blur coming strait at him, and then a sharp pain in his cheek, for Nightshade had slapped him so fast it would've been impossible to evade it.

"All you ever care about is yourself! There won't _be_ you if we loose!"

"You guys have it under control," he was trying to get over the pain. Elyon had backed away slowly and joined Richu behind them, books still in her arms, knowing that was a stupid retort.

Nightshade punched him this time, on the same cheek, causing him to turn backwards. "You're just going to _ditch _us?" Tears started to swell up in her eyes. She was going to punch him again, but Elyon held her back. Richu had started to growl.

"Fine! FINE!" She yanked herself out of Elyon's grasp, anger flaring in her eyes, and stomped off, leaving the bosmer and dunmer bewildered. Elyon sighed. "Do what you want, Ice, I won't stop you." She followed after Nightshade with Richu behind her, glaring at him.

* * *

Nightshade stopped when she reached Green Emperor Way in the heart of the large city, barely noticing where she was going. Her thoughts were swirling around in her head, giving her a headache. Why did she even care if he left or not? This was the whole reason he stayed with them anyway. He got what he wanted and what he probably deserves—he'd get caught and thrown in jail and probably executed.

This thought seemed to soothe her as she sat on a marble bench. The sun was past its highest peak and slowly starting to make its journey down towards the western horizon.

Elyon ran, but slowed to a walk when she saw the Dark Elf sitting on the bench, hunched in thought, her brown leather armor glistening black. Her hands were on her head, practically pulling at her hair.

"Nightshade," she said softly, her experience in this showed in her voice, "we should start looking for Crow."

Nightshade looked up; Elyon's meek voice barely reached her. "Ok."

They walked together in silence, the laughter and talk of people blocked out their presence. Elyon looked down at Richu, who returned the look with puppy eyes.

They walked out of Green Emperor's Way and into the Market District, where Crow was admiring a book in a store called "The First Edition". He looked rather pleased until he saw the pair of them; Elyon was clearly worried and Nightshade looked ready to kill something. Carefully, he put the book back and noticed the missing member of the party. And he asked the stupid question: "Where's Ice?"

"THAT LOW-DOWN, BACK-STABBING BASTARD!" The outburst made everyone in the shop jump, even Richu, whom whimpered afterward. Nightshade didn't stop, "How could he just leave us like that? He's fucking selfish and deserves to fail in his bloody mission! I hope he gets caught and executed by hanging!"

Crow's bewildered face frowned and flinched with each exclamation. "Nightshade…"

"If he ever comes crawling back to us—"

"Nightshade…"

"—he'll be dead before he gets to finish a sentence—"

"Nightshade!" His short outburst caused Nightshade to shut up, but she still looked demonic. "Nightshade, you'd better come with me."

They resided in "Luther Broad's Boarding House", a small hotel in the Elven Gardens District. Richu wasn't allowed upstairs, so she waited down in the bar.

"Nightshade, take a while to calm down," Crow left her in the small room, where Elyon and he went outside into the hall. For a while she thought angry thoughts, until she heard Elyon's voice.

"You talk to her," she whispered.

"You're a girl, plus you're closer to her," Crow retorted. Elyon hissed under her breath something Nightshade couldn't hear from behind the door, so she went closer.

"How do you know?"

"It's fucking obvious," the bosmer was clearly frustrated.

"No it isn't. And don't swear to me."

"I'll swear all I like."

"You're still like a child."

"At least I'm not an uptight grumpy-ass like you!"

When Crow didn't answer, Elyon's voice went softer and Nightshade pressed her ear to the door. "You've dealt with stuff like this. I haven't."

"Fine." His voice was barely audible. He violently opened the door, hitting Nightshade square in the nose. Alarmed, he dashed to her side. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…"

Elyon used a spell on her so the nose-bleeding stopped. "There."

The blow had seemed to knock some sense into Nightshade's mind; the events of the last hour seemed to come together into one simple conclusion: Ice didn't care. So why did she? The answer came with a swarm of pain: she needed him. No, she didn't love him, but over the days he had become sort of like a brother to her, or what she imagined having a brother would be like. He saved her, after all, more than once.

For the first time in a long time Nightshade wanted to cry. However, she forced it down with a lot of willpower. "I think—I think we should go back to Cloud Ruler."

They nodded, Crow's somewhat short. He stood up from his kneeling position. "We should start going back." His voice was darker; his hood covered his eyes in a dark shadow. Elyon didn't reply, but seemed perturbed. "Come on; let's hope we can reach it before dark."

* * *

Ice frowned, kicking at a piece of trash on the street.

Why the hell did Nightshade have to take it so hard? Had he not told her he wanted to find the Thieves Guild? He had made it plain; why were girls so weird?

Perhaps he should've stayed. Maybe he could do more good there. Nightshade had a point—there would be no one to steal from if Mehrunes Dagon won.

Wait, he's never thought like that before! He must be sick; he certainly felt like it. No, it was a different feeling he had felt only twice before. It made him sad and…regretful.

He shook the thoughts out of his head. Now he must concentrate on finding the Dreloth garden and wait till midnight.

* * *

The sun had gone down before Nightshade, Crow, Elyon, and Richu had made it to Cloud Ruler Temple, even Bruma, but Nightshade insisted they keep going. She no longer thought about Ice; she had engrossed herself in the Destruction book Lyze had given her. She now held a torch dangerously close to the book for light and would've crashed into the gate if Richu hadn't of started barking in Elyon's arms.

She looked up, blinking at the two guards asleep on top of the gate. She called out and they awoke.

"Intruders! Intruder—wait, never mind!" a young Imperial looked down, his short brown hair shrouding his face in shadow. "Is that you?"

"No, it's Sheogorath! Of course it's us!" Crow's sarcasm showed his anger from the cold. His arms were folded and his black-gloved hands under his armpits. Elyon waved a book. "We got it!"

The gates opened slowly, probably because of the tired guards. They entered, and Nightshade suddenly realized how tired she was. However, she continued onward into the Main Hall where Baurus greeted them.

"Hey, glad to see you're all alright!" He grinned. "I want to hear all the details of your adventure! Wait, where's Ice?"

"What about Jauffre and Martin?"

"Oh, I'll go get them." He left down a hall.

Nightshade didn't remember waiting very long. She remembered closing her eyes and then they were suddenly there, very happy.

"Wow, you're back!" Martin grinned at Nightshade and she noticed how tired he looked. His face looked sagged and his eyes were baggy. She grinned back.

Jauffre looked at Crow as Elyon introduced him. "This is an old friend, Crow. Nightshade and Ice met him at Cheydinhal. Crow, this is Jauffre, Baurus, and Martin."

"Nice to meet you," Jauffre shook his hand. Baurus nodded and said, "Same here." Martin waved. He asked, "Where's Ice?"

"Well—" Elyon started to say something before Nightshade interrupted. "He left us to go join the Thieves Guild."

She looked slightly surprised at Nightshade before nodding. "Yes, he left right after getting his new staff."

"Really?" Martin frowned. Jauffre looked like he expected it. Baurus had no expression.

After a pause, Elyon dropped the three books onto the table from her own backpack. They jumped, for they all looked like they would fall asleep.

"Well, I spent some time looking at them and they're nothing but gibberish about evil and Mehrunes Dagon. It does mention dawns and stuff, but nothing important. Crow, is something wrong?"

Crow had frowned at nothing in particular. "Yeah, I forgot to mention something."

"What?"

"Well, after I shopped for supplies, I asked around about potential liars of evil dwellers and questions that could be related to the Mythic Dawn. Some guy—a bosmer, I think—came up to me and told me to meet him in the sewers if I wanted to 'find the dawn.'"

"And you didn't mention this _before _we left?"

"I forgot. I started reading a book, then Ice left, and Nightshade had her ordeal, it slipped to the back of my mind."

Elyon massaged her forehead in an irritated way. "Ok, tomorrow we'll head back."

"Why?" Martin looked confused.

"Because he will lead us to the Mythic Dawn somehow."

"Ok, let's get some sleep first," Jauffre yawned. "Let's figure this out in the morning."

* * *

Nightshade couldn't sleep. She could see the shadows of falling snowflakes from her window alight from the full moon. She blinked up at the ceiling. It must be the middle of the night. And yet she couldn't tell if there was light coming from her doorway or not.

She got out of bed, trailing the blankets behind her and holding them. She now had a pair of pajamas she decided she liked to wear when she was here. They were perfect with the beds—not like the beds in inns. She was always paranoid about strange people watching her.

She followed an increasing beam of light to the library where Jauffre had first told them about the books and saw an Imperial bent over an open book, sitting on a table, hair in his face.

"Martin?" Nightshade nudged his shoulder. The brunet jolted up. "Did they attack yet?"

"What?"

"Oh," Martin realized where he was and wiped his eyes. "Bad dreams, that's all. What brings you here?"

"Insomnia," she pulled up a chair and looked at what he was reading. "Are those the books Elyon brought back?"

"Yeah. I read the first one; it's utter nonsense. All of it's about evil, Mehrunes Dagon, and the Mythic Dawn. And it's only a few pages until they become nothing but crude sketches of torture and naked ladies. Honestly, it's disgusting."

She smiled a tired smile. "That's just great." She peered at the words. "What frilly capitals."

"Every first letter in each paragraph has large capitals like that. I hope you guys can find the last book; maybe that'll make more sense." He grinned at her. "I know you'll do well."

"Mmm." Nightshade seemed to have drifted off. "So, what have you been doing since we left?"

"Waiting, studying, and training. I'm learning a shock spell. Being a priest, I know a lot of restoration spells."

"Wish you were back at the chapel?"

He snorted. "Surprisingly, no. I like not having priestly duties. I feel more—important here."

"Yeah, I'm feeling more important too. But I never realized being somebody would be so… scary." Nightshade felt weak saying this, a feeling Owyn always discouraged. She hated it too; strength was the best thing. But she needed to tell someone, and Ice was no longer available.

The thought of the Dunmer seemed to startle her into awareness. Martin was looking at her oddly. "You ok?"

She frowned. "Yeah, I'm ok…."

She was? Then why didn't she feel like it? And before she knew it, she had burst into tears, burying her face in her white blanket and staining it.

Martin actually looked shocked and unsure of what to do. This was totally unexpected. Nightshade, the Hero of Kvatch, the girl who always sneered at Ice, fainted on the floor of the Chapel, and refused to be mocked about it. He always got the impression Nightshade despised Ice. He never got into their fights, but always listened. And Nightshade hardly ever gave up. Now, she was breaking down next to him, sobbing rather quietly into her blanket.

Cautiously, he patted her shoulder. The last time he tried to comfort someone he slapped him in the face and ran screaming out of the chapel. "It's ok…"

"God, why did he leave? This is too much to handle." Over a week she was suddenly a hero, enduring attacks no one else would ever experience, and meeting a friend and keeping him for the first time. Her friend—her _best _friend—was gone; the person she thought cared about her, even very slightly. She wept and leaned onto Martin's shoulder. He put his arm around her slowly and carefully, hoping no one would walk in on them, especially Baurus. He wouldn't hear the end of it from him.

* * *

Ice bit his lip. Lost in the Temple district, he was following that bosmer, Methredhel, hoping she'd lead him to a beggar.

He had found Dreloth Garden in the Water Front District, behind shacks poor people lived in. He had barely arrived in time when the Redguard, Christophe, started his speech about the assignment to get into the Thieves Guild. There were two others: Methredhel, and Amusei, an Argonian who looked like a beggar himself.

Christophe had told them to steal a diary of a man called Amantius Allectus. Methredhel was cocky and said she would get the diary before dawn. He challenged that and it caused an argument between the two until Christophe threatened them to leave or else they'd never join the Thieves Guild.

Now, he didn't know what to do. The beggars had given him a vague description of how to get there, but the directions confused him. So, he was doing his last resort plan: following Methredhel.

It didn't actually take long. The Wood Elf merely walked up to a door, looked around, unaware of Ice's presence, and stuck a lock-pick in the keyhole. Ice looked at this as a waste of time; he could unlock it with a spell and not waste an instrument like that. She was inside the house in less than a minute. Ice followed with haste and stealth.

The house was nothing worth marveling. He wouldn't be surprised if this man they were stealing from was part of the guild. It was just a small room for the downstairs with three tables and one bookshelf. Methredhel was nowhere to be seen, so he went upstairs, which was a hall and four doors. One was left ajar, so he snuck in to see her rummaging through a desk. She was moving papers carefully without noise. Ice didn't notice the man asleep on the other side of the room.

There it was a brown leather-back book. Methredhel grinned and pocketed it in her greaves. Ice smirked and his plan was coming on very well. He used the same spell he used the day he officially met Nightshade—his invisibility spell, and for a moment he hesitated, but the path was clear now—very clear.

* * *

The sun passed small, white clouds by the time Nightshade, Crow, and Elyon returned to the Imperial City. Actually, they had free time; they agreed to leave at noon to the sewers and it looked like ten o'clock.

"Well," Elyon, leading Silver by a bridle and Richu on the horse's back, said while entering the Talos Plaza, "I need to sell some stuff. All this traveling has given me more supplies and goods. I could get some more money."

Crow nodded. "Alright."

Nightshade felt scared to be back. She didn't tell them about her breakdown last night with Martin or about how she didn't get any sleep. She had practically been sleepwalking the whole time. But she felt scared because she didn't want to run into Ice (she prayed to the Nine silently earlier) or Owyn, but mostly Ice.

"I'll see if I can get my armor and stuff repaired. Want to come, Crow?"

Crow shook his head. "I'm going back to the First Edition. They had some good books." He grinned slightly and the three parted, Elyon with a small scowl.

Nightshade wandered, just thinking, more and more about Owyn and the Arena. She was wondering: would he recognize her? If he did, would he force her back, or leave her be? Owyn was hard to read, hard to tell. He was short tempered, but why would he make a big deal about a maid girl? And before she knew it, she stood before the Arena.

Frightened, she hid it and took out twenty-five pieces of gold. The only way in was betting. She knew they needed the money, and as long as she earned it, even with luck, Elyon would be ok. She got the feeling Crow wouldn't care.

Nightshade walked up to the Gambler. He smiled that plaster smile. "Hello, what you need is to bet on a match. Yes, I can feel it's your lucky day! Today, a yellow team gladiator is fighting a blue team warrior! Everyone is rooting for the yellow, but I can see you'll make a good decision. What do you say?"

Gods, what she needed was luck. Some would say she was lucky for being a hero and helping the world, but she honestly didn't want it. Luck for her was making a small earning, living in a small house and finding a nice guy that wouldn't treat her like shit, or being a small-time good-person with loyal and trustworthy friends by her side. She sheepishly smiled. "Twenty-five on the blue team."

"Ok, you're chances. If that's what you want." The Gambler put the gold in a large chest. She nodded and went in, and he could've sworn he's seen her somewhere before.

Nightshade sat in the balcony above the arena. All the poor people were cheering around her. Only four other people were up there, none who seemed pleasant. She peered down when someone spoke loudly out of nowhere. "Ladies and gentlemen, today's fight is between a strong, Altmer, yellow team gladiator whose been fighting for three years to reach his goal, and a blue team, Khajiit warrior who hasn't been here for one year! Who will survive? Let's find out! Let the battle begin!"

The two gates opposite of each other opened with the sound of chains. Nightshade watched the brutal battle between the High Elf and the Kajiit. The elf used magic, conjuring a ghost to help. His opponent used a mace, spiked at the end, swinging it with grace and ease. Enchanted, it hit the ghost in its head.

Nightshade watched the fight with disgust, questioning her about why she even came. When it finally ended, the Altmer had received a fireball to the face, ending his life. The Kajiit merely looked at him and spat on him. People were cheering like mad, surprised by the victory.

Nightshade left, feeling like throwing up. She had a different view of death now that she actually killed someone. She knew this vision would have to change if she planned on stopping a cult from destroying the world. She walked down the steps, remembered that the gambler said everyone had voted on the yellow team gladiator, and saw a person she especially didn't want to see.

"Well, well, well, look who came the fuck back," Owyn sneered at Nightshade.


	13. Chapter 13: Dawning Problems

Chapter 13: Dawning Problems

Shit. Nightshade hated this.

Owyn had grabbed her throat, pushing her up against the stone wall behind the Gambler, who watched with his hands on his hips. The middle-aged Redguard was clearly angry.

"How dare you fucking return! I knew you were nothing but vermin. Here, I thought you would die, but it turns out you're the Hero of Kvatch. Why didn't you just _die_?" He spat in her face, causing her to turn away.

"I wouldn't come back to you even if you paid me a thousand gold pieces," she choked. Owyn slapped her and she staggered sideways, leaning against the wall. She looked at the men behind him, recognizing the Khajiit, but not the Nord and Breton. They stood, ready to attack.

"Traitor," he snarled, "you deserve no bloody mercy. Tear her to shreds."

The Nord ran at her first. She ducked and dived where she almost got hit with the Khajiit's mace. Quickly, she unsheathed her sword and blocked the axe of the Breton.

Shit, another problem to add to her life, only this one was fatal. Dodging and blocking the best she could, three against one was hardly fair. It didn't take long for the Nord to knock her to the ground with his own hands. The Khajiit returned his mace to his belt and pulled a short-sword from a hilt on his back.

Owyn grinned. "Now, to finish your sorry life. I always knew you'd amount to nothing." The Khajiit wasn't looking at her, but at the ground as he put the blade to her throat. She shook, scared, and closed her eyes. Out of everything, she never thought Owyn (or his workers) would kill her. What an unexpected ending.

So why wasn't she dead yet?

She opened an eye, confused, to find the Khajiit no longer faced her, but behind him, as were the other two. Owyn was on the ground, a sharp tip of a knife pointed straight at his throat, and a young Dark Elf held its hilt.

"Miss me?" Ice grinned. "I'm gone for one day and you're already in trouble. I thought you'd last at least _two _days."

Nightshade was lost for words, half because of shock, and half because of anger.

"So, you lot, back away from Nightshade or your boss gets it, right in the middle of the street."

The Nord and High Elf backed away, but the Khajiit didn't move. His sword was still on Nightshade's neck, but he wasn't paying attention to her. She scooted backwards on her knees, trying to reach her sword, but it was too far away. Then she remembered the book, the Destruction Book Lyze had given her.

As she was trying to remember the words, the Khajiit was in combat with Ice. They clashed blades and fought fiercely. Ice was throwing taunts and mocks, but he didn't respond to them. He continued to attack with full force.

Owyn was edging away, going in the same direction as Nightshade, trying to reach the katana, for he was weaponless. She stood up and recited the incantation for a standard fireball.

It was larger than she expected, especially since she was a beginner. It flew straight at Owyn's hand. He recoiled and swore while she ran to retrieve the Akavari Sunderblade. Quickly, without realizing it, she had grabbed Owyn's hair and held the sword to his throat. "How does it feel to be at death's door, just like I was?"

Her voice, it was darker, eviler, and angrier. The Khajiit and Ice stopped and looked at her.

"Nightshade, put the sword down," Ice was trying to persuade her. "I might've done it, but I wasn't actually going to kill him—"

"Shut up!" she snarled. A tear ran down Owyn's cheek. "How dare you talk! You, who deserted the people that needed you; you deserve to die as much as he does."

"Oh, so this is what it's about. This isn't about your past in the Arena, but about me leaving you? I don't get it. I _told _you I wanted to join the Thieves Guild in the beginning and hanging around you seemed like a good opportunity for me."

"But you acted in selfishness and vanity, a sin unforgivable, no?" her eyes, they had changed, just like her voice. The pupils had become smaller. _Uncontrollable rage,_ Ice thought.

"Nightshade, if you won't let Owyn live for me, let him live for Elyon and Crow and Martin. Do you want them to see you as a murderer, be scared of you? Do you want people to say the Hero of Kvatch killed the Arena blade master?" Ice had started to look at the floor. "I may deserve to die, just like you said, but please, think about everyone else."

The clang of her sword seemed to break her daze. She had slowly been absorbing everything Ice had said, and he was right. Killing Owyn would lead to nothing good. It was no longer in self-defense, like when she killed the fake Jauffre, or the scamps, or all those wild animals she has met on the road. This was revenge for making her life miserable for fourteen long years, but it was time to leave it behind. "I'm…. sorry…" she whispered and let go of Owyn's hair. He fell on his face, but got up and eyed the sword. He was too late to do anything, though, for she picked it back up and sheathed it. "I have to find Elyon and Crow," she muttered, and walked away.

"Wait!" he ran after her, leaving the Khajiit and Redguard in confusion.

Ice caught up, skidding in front of her. "I want to apologize for leaving you guys. I… Shit, I don't know how to say this… felt _guilty _about leaving you guys on your own." When she didn't stop, he switched tactics. "I found out I don't have to spend every minute actually doing guild stuff. I can just steal whenever I see the opportunity. I… I want to help. You were right, if I don't try, then the world might get destroyed. I'm a jerk, I know. I want to help." He stopped walking, and so did she.

She sighed. "I should really just walk away from you right now. I must be crazy, but, we need all the help we can get. And I'm not forgiving you, either. You're not my friend. You've lost my trust. I'm doing this for Cyrodiil. Follow me, shit-face."

The pair of them walked in silence to the Market District. They met Crow first at the First Edition where he had bought two books. He pocketed them as they walked in. "Hi, we should get going, I—" he stopped at the sight of Ice. "What are you doing here?"

"I figured you could use some help. I won't turn my back on you guys just yet." Ice didn't see Crow's look of suspicion. Crow looked at Nightshade, who shrugged, but she looked angry. He frowned. "Fine," the tone wasn't the same, "we'll find Elyon and then explain to you what's going on. We're running out of time."

Elyon had reacted in a similar way. She was walking around, looking through windows of shops. The backpack she had before had disappeared. However, she seemed to be displeased by Ice's return, just like everyone else, and a mutual agreement silently spread through the three.

As they walked through the sewers, they didn't speak. Ice seemed confused, and even as they killed a few sewer goblins, rats, and crabs, he didn't get it.

Crow climbed down first into the deeper sewer where they were supposed to meet the man Crow had spoken with. He jumped down the ladder and signaled for them to follow.

"No sign of anyone," he whispered, almost inaudibly. He pulled his hood farther down his face; Elyon took a left passageway along the wall, sticking to the shadows, and Nightshade and Ice headed for a nearby bridge.

Crow looked around to see a small, wooden chair. Cautiously, he sat down, and a few seconds later a High Elf came walking through a door straight in front of him. His yellow and red skin covered his full, oval face. His oily, brown hair was held upward in a narrow bun. He looked at Crow with an expressionless face.

"So, you're interested in joining us, the Mythic Dawn? Humph, it's much more than killing things, dunmer; it's about obeying rules and worshipping Mehrunes Dagon! You may have worshipped other Daedra, but Mehrunes Dagon commands total obedience! You disobey him, and you will be punished greatly. The Mythic Dawn—"

Ice rolled his eyes. "Why can't we attack yet?" he whispered fiercely.

Nightshade hissed, "We need information. Now shut up."

The Altmer suddenly frowned. "You did come alone, right?"

Crow nodded. "No one came with me."

"You weren't followed?"

"If I was, I probably killed them up in the sewers. It's hard to tell apart humans and goblins."

Suspicious, the lecture shifted to an interview. "So, what's your name?"

"Ashen Kinaswlaki. I'm from Morrowind."

"Really? And what's your history?"

"I was worshipping in Vvardenfell, but it didn't come to my standards. See, I like a lot of sacrificing and blood with chanting and stuff like that. Wasn't good enough there. So, a friend of mine told me about Cyrodiil and how they have all sorts of crazy cults—no offense. And then when I was in Cheydinhal, I overheard someone talking about the Mythic Dawn. Well, I was interested."

Elyon had ascended further across the narrow pathway and was in the sight range of a guard that had appeared through another archway. Another had appeared across from Ice and Nightshade, on the other side of the bridge, and the last was downstairs where Crow was.

"So, who are you? I feel that I should at least know who's judging me," Crow slyly asked.

"I'm Raven Camoran, part of the Camoran clan, and a leader of the Mythic Dawn. My family founded the cult a few generations back."

"Why Mehrunes Dagon?"

He scowled, the suspicion rising. Crow switched tactics. "Just so I know all there's to know. I don't want to be picked on just because everyone else knows something I don't."

Camoran cracked his fingers. "Are you prepared to sacrifice yourself for the greater good?"

Greater good? These people had a sick conscience. Nightshade looked over at Elyon, expecting her to give some sort of signal. She was watching Crow, fists clenched just in case.

Crow crossed his legs nonchalantly and started to examine his nails. Nightshade didn't know he was such a good actor.

"Camoran—may I call you Raven?" He snorted in displeasure. Crow continued, "Don't I need the fourth book before I do anything with you people? I mean, I'd be joining like a blind bat would enter a cage. I don't feel right just walking into this."

He stood there, staring at him for a while, before approaching him closer. "Dunmer, why don't I trust you?"

He shrugged. "Maybe I'm just naturally good. I'd be perfect for an undercover agent, wouldn't I? I wouldn't be suspected."

Camoran turned and walked back, his hand behind his red robe until suddenly he shot a frost spell at him. He countered with a powerful swipe of his arm, glittering purple, but it did damage. He took out his sword with his right hand, unable to use magic with that hand very well, and started to slash. The guard below with them charged, but Nightshade jumped feebly down in front of him. She was knocked down, but she wasn't defenseless with her Sunderblade. Elyon fought the guard on the ledge and also to keep her balance. Ice struggled to fight his opponent, but he was strong.

"I knew you weren't alone!" Camoran hissed, withdrawing his own weapon, a large dagger. The two clashed swords and the whole sewers must've echoed with the sounds of fighting.

The struggle ended with the three guards dead and the four surrounding Camoran in a circle. He was cut up badly and couldn't stand.

"Ok, we'll let you live if you tell us about the Mythic Dawn and give us the last book," Crow held out a hand, but Camoran tried to spit blood into his face. He shrugged and faced Elyon. "Should we kill him?"

"I'd rather die than tell you anything! You'll see; the awesome power of Mehrunes Dagon will crush everyone, including the Nine themselves. You'll be sorry, for I'll be in Paradise and you'll all burn in Oblivion for eternity!" He ended his dramatic speech with a last cough of blood, and flopped down onto the hard, mossy stone floor.

"Poor devil," Elyon muttered. She knelt down and searched his red robes for anything. A couple of gold pieces, a broken key, and a book with a red cover lied on Elyon's knees.

* * *

Nightshade's face was faced down, slumped on her shoulders. Again, they had traveled through the night. Silver was sleepwalking with Richu draped across her back like a sack. Elyon was trying feebly to keep awake by stretching every now and then. It was hard to tell if Crow was awake or not, for his hood covered his eyes. Ice's eyes were bloodshot from staring blankly; he had run out of things to talk about hours ago.

"Open… up…" Nightshade pounded on the gates of Cloud Ruler Temple weakly. The fort opened and they woke each other up.

"Rather late," Baurus rubbed his eyes as they entered the Main Hall. Martin sat at a bench, slouched, and immediately jolted up at the sound of their footsteps. "I'm not a scamp," he muttered, and then looked at them. "Oh, hello."

The four waved in unison. Richu, who had jumped off Silver's back when she was being taken to the stable, was already asleep.

Jauffre, unlike last time, was in a nightdress with a matching sock cap with a tassel at the end. He held a candlestick. "What goes on?"

"They're back—I mean, we're back," Nightshade handed Jauffre the last book, and without another word, the group dispersed and slept.

* * *

Nightshade woke up when the sun was almost at the peak of the sky. She started to play with the amulet on her chest. She had forgotten about it, its black gem glittering back at her. It reminded her of Crow's ring—

"Do you have _any _idea what time it is?" Baurus poked his head through her doorframe. "Jauffre's holding a meeting right now."

She bolted up and, already in her armor and clothes, she followed him. She took her Akavari Sunderblade and let the amulet rest on the chest of her armor.

"Ok, we have all four books," Jauffre continued, following Nightshade with his eyes as she took a seat next to Martin and Elyon. They were in the library so no one could really listen in. "Martin's read over all of them, but we can't find anything. So, now's a chance we train up and rest awhile until we figure this out. Meeting over."

"That was a pathetic speech," Ice, who sat next to Martin and across from Elyon, said as the Breton left. "And of course you know by 'we' he means you, Martin, right?"

Martin nodded. "Yep."

"Well, I need to go brush up," Elyon yawned. "Good luck."

Nightshade looked at Martin. "Need help?"

"Of course I do, but there is nothing!" Martin banged his head on the round table in front of them. "I've read them at least twenty times and it's all the same nonsense! Why the hell would someone write commentaries and have it be nothing I'll never know!"

"Maybe Nightshade should read it," Ice grinned. "She's rather magical lately. You should've seen her fireball. Was that your first try?"

She scowled. "Yes, but that hardly makes a difference."

Ice picked up a book and looked at it. "Hmm…. Can you even read?"

"Yes," Nightshade was getting annoyed.

"Then prove it."

She picked up the first volume and started reading. She messed up a few times. Ice stood up and behind her, reading over her shoulder to see if she was saying it properly. When she started the second, he walked over to the rows of bookshelves and started to look for a book. Before she finished, he slammed a large book in front of Martin.

"Look, I've found something interesting."

Martin raised an eyebrow. "'Code-breaking for Spies'?"

"Yeah. Look at it. Codes. That's what they are. There's a hidden code in there saying different things." Ice opened it to page ten. "'The most common codes are numbers meaning letters, but an experienced code master will mix up the numbers, like 2 meaning U. Other codes involve letters meaning different letters, or words meaning different words. But other times the answer is right in front of your nose. First letters or last letters could all add up to a word.' See?"

"No."

Ice rolled his eyes and grabbed the first volume. He skimmed for a while before grinning brightly. "Look! 'GO TO GREEN E.' The first letter of every paragraph is the code!"

"Genius!" Martin seized the second volume with a rush of adrenalin. "'MPERORS WAY WHEN'!"

By the time they read through them all, Nightshade wrote the letters down on a spare piece of parchment. She read it off. "'GO TO GREEN EMPERORS WAY WHEN THE SUN IS HIGHEST IN THE SKY'."

"Brilliant!" Martin clapped his hands and smiled. "Finally, the answer to our question!"


	14. Chapter 14: Mythic Shrine under Cyrodiil

Chapter 14: Mythic Shrines under Cyrodiil

The chilly, windy day blew Nightshade's short, red hair into her face. She attempted to put it up in a ponytail a few times, but it was too short for her liking. Ice said she was crazy, but he didn't understand. It seemed like the coldness was melting between them, although Ice was still unsure if Nightshade liked him anymore like she did before. She talked to him and had arguments, but she got angry and gave up earlier than she used to. Elyon talked a bit to him, but not much; he didn't remember them really having a connection; and Crow continued to stay silent.

After the discovery in the books, Jauffre had them immediately travel back to the Imperial city—the third time in a row. Martin waved good-bye from the top of the fort wall with Baurus, who was teaching him how to handle a sword. Nightshade had attempted to read the Destruction book, but gave up when the wind started to pick up. Instead, she practiced what she could remember and, as Ice put it, "was a natural" at fire spells. However, her frost spells were weak. Elyon was confused after trying to help.

It was, indeed, past sun high, and sundown, by the time they reached the city. They stayed in the same place Nightshade had gotten hit in the nose with the door: Luther Broad's Boarding House.

Morning came too quickly for Nightshade's taste, her dream, once again, left forgotten. She washed up and met Crow and Elyon downstairs at the bar. They were talking casually and stopped at her presence.

"We have about five hours to kill," Crow looked out the window where people were starting to walk. "Have any suggestions on what to do?"

She shook her head. "Ice's still asleep?"

Elyon nodded. A pause made Nightshade bit her lip. She thought about things to say, and a question popped into her head.

"How do you two know each other again?"

Crow looked down at an empty plate where his breakfast must've been. Elyon blinked and grinned. "I told you, we met in Solsthiem."

"I think we need more food," Crow interjected quietly. "I'll check the Market District. I'll be back." He walked out, leaving the girls together.

Elyon sighed. "He's still touchy about the subject. I don't blame him."

"Why?"

She was thinking. Richu, Nightshade noticed, was asleep in a corner.

"Well, you see, I was in Solsthiem due to an outbreak of werewolves. I wasn't Lyze's apprentice anymore, but I still worked at that same Mages Guild hall in Balmora. She had a daughter; we were great friends. I invited her there, but I ditched her at a fort. Crow was in the East Empire Company; they were making a colony at Raven's Rock. She signed up and became his partner. In her letters she always seemed annoyed at him because he was so sour and mean, but over time she seemed to start to like him. We crossed paths every now and then, and one day we found we were mixed up in a sinister plot threatening Solsthiem.

"When we thought it was over, they moved to the Raven Rock colony and fell in love there. But it wasn't over. I woke up one night to find myself and Crow in front of a castle, an ice castle that I had been in before, but this time the inside had changed. We had to fight in a maze of werewolves. At the end, there was a portal, and I told him he could go first. When I went in, he wasn't there. Later, I found out he had been transported into a different room than me. He never told me the details, but she was dead. He completely melted down after that."

Nightshade frowned sympathetically. "So that's why he took up necromancy."

She didn't expect such a rash reaction from Elyon. She turned to her, eyes wide. "What did you say?"

"He's a necromancer. That's why we met him in Cheydinhal. We had to find him to get a recommendation."

She stared at the floor, clearly furious, but she stayed calm. She breathed, but her face betrayed nothing.

"You… didn't know?"

"No."

Nightshade was speechless. All this time she thought she knew, but she didn't. And then a new question formed in her mind.

"Elyon, why does Ice hate Jauffre?"

She looked at her. "That I'm not really sure about. Remember, I was unconscious at the time."

"Oh yeah," Nightshade had forgotten about that.

Ice came groggily down the stairs, rubbing his eyes like a child. "Why are all of you up so early?"

* * *

Sun high had everyone appear at the Green Emperor's Way. They split up, looking at every grave in the large place, until Elyon came across a rather large tomb the size of a small door. A symbol of half a sun above a line glowed red in front of their faces.

"Prince Camarril: assassinated by the men in red, by… by… I can't read the rest." Elyon frowned, confused. "Clearly the Mythic Dawn sign, but what good is it?"

"No good," Ice said pessimistically. "It's a dead end."

"What now?" Nightshade seemed as hopeless as Ice and leaned on a pillar. Crow was thinking, but nothing came to mind. Ice, not realizing it, leaned on an opposite pillar. His arm suddenly sunk into an indentation. He stumbled and got up. "Well, thank you dumb luck."

The front with the glowing symbol suddenly started to move downward into the ground. They looked into it to see darkness behind, and as soon as it was completely down, they climbed in, Crow first. Faster than it went down, it shot back up, and they were covered in darkness.

"Where are we?" Nightshade's voice rang and echoed, and suddenly both Crow and Ice started reciting spells. They glowed, Crow's glow bigger and brighter.

Surrounding them was a dirt tunnel, round in width and clearly dug out. The dirt was compacted and tight, especially the ground beneath them. They started to walk, hearing small sounds like distant steps above them and the occasional scuttle of a bug. Soon, the steps sounded no more, and the tunnel sloped downward into damp soil. "We're under the lake," Elyon muttered. There was a feeling of quietness and the need to be silent.

After an hour or two, the tunnel gave way to a cavern. Limestone started to cover the walls and ceiling with stalagmites and stalactites. They head voices at the entrance, so Crow dispelled his light and Ice's.

"…I mean, who does he think he is, the boss? Oh yeah, give the low life guard duty. I've been here for thirty years and I'm still not respected."

"Rich snobs."

"Yeah."

"I told that Harrow that he was too big for himself and would be stomped on like a bug. Seriously, he was bossing me around too. He thinks he'll take Camoran's place when he leaves today."

"Yeah, you'd think we'd be able to see him go, but no, 'Guarding is more important'."

In a swift move Crow appeared and banged their heads together. They were knocked out without knowing what hit them.

"Ok, there're two robes. Oh, wait…" two other people were coming, and this time Elyon hit them in the back of their heads. "Make that four."

Nightshade reluctantly took a robe off a body; luckily, they had clothes underneath and all they needed to do was wear the robes over their armor. Still, wearing someone else's clothes felt weird.

The hoods draped over everyone's eyes, especially Ice's. He pulled it far down his face and ended up with a red cloth face. He laughed, but Crow elbowed him to knock it off.

"Ok, we're to have fake names. I'll keep with mine: Ashen Kinaswlaki. Elyon, you'll be…"

"Ginhi. Just Ginhi. I won't talk at all."

Ice went next. "I'll be Casito Hlaalu."

All eyes went to Nightshade. "Uh, I'll be…. Be…"

"Frisha Takano." Ice seemed to just make up the name on the spot.

"Fine."

"Don't forget to take a knife; they'll want weapons."

They walked to the other end of the cavern where a small, wooden door with a large, burned-in symbol of a sun on the horizon was being guarded by another red-robed man. He smiled. "Hello. Names?"

"Ashen Kinaswlaki. These are Ginhi, Casito Hlaalu, and Frisha Takano. We're new."

"Really? New people? I heard Raven went to get a new recruit, but I don't remember him coming back." The doorman frowned and scratched his head.

Crow shrugged. "He left, said it would be all arranged."

"Really?" the doorman repeated his action. "I don't know…"

"How do you think we got these robes?" Ice couldn't help himself blurt it out. Crow glared.

"Good point, little one. Ok, I'll let you in. But not much is happening today."

"Why?" Crow wanted to squeeze out as much information as possible.

"Haven't you heard? No, 'course you haven't. Harrow will tell you and show you your barracks and stuff." He unlocked the door and let them pass.

"Harrow, wasn't he the guy those two guys were talking about?" Nightshade whispered. Both Crow and Ice nodded. Elyon stayed in character and pretended not to be listening.

"Welcome, new members," a Dark Elf with slick black hair greased back. His skin was dark without the sun. "I'm Harrow, the warden. I'll be your guide to the place. First, all weapons must be placed in this box."

Crow's prediction was correct. Each deposited different knives from their robes. Harrow gave a phony grin. "Right. Barracks are to the right of the shrine and the offices are to the left."

"What's going on today?" Crow seemed uninterested.

"Ah, today's a most exciting day. Our leader, Mankar Camoran, is planning to make important history. You'll have to see for yourself. After that, you four must pass the initiation."

"Initiation?" Nightshade couldn't help but question.

"Yes, initiation. Didn't Raven tell you?"

"He mentioned it," Crow stated blandly. "Are there other Camorans?"

"One other. They're all High Elves except Ruma, his other child. She's part Imperial; her mother died when she was born. She's very tough. Everyone gives her a hard time. However, once Mankar leaves, she'll be the leader. Her brother doesn't like her, though. That Raven can be sour. Here we are," Hallow opened a stone door with the same symbol chiseled into the front.

Inside was a large room made of limestone. The room was filled with red robes and hoods looking up towards a raised stage. A man in a blue robe shouted and waved his arms, an Altmer with a large, white book in front of him on an alter. Behind him were a black robed girl, shrouded in a hood and a staff strapped to her back.

"Hey, what's that on his chest?" Ice pointed to the Altmer.

On Mankar's robe was the large, red diamond-shaped amulet outlined in gold. "It's the Amulet of Kings," she breathed.

"… with the emperor's gone, there is chaos, and no rules. Now, with the Dragonfires in our hands, we can go to paradise. The time of Cleansing draws nigh. I go now to Paradise. I will return with Lord Dagon and the coming of the Dawn!"

With a shouting of odd words Mankar waved his arms in a circular motion and a glimmering blue portal appeared. He stepped through it, taking the amulet with him.

"Damn, I missed practically all the speech. They move me to tears." Harrow wiped his eye. "Now, go up there and talk to Ruma. She'll tell you your initiation."

The four pushed their way through the crowd. "What thick-heads," Ice snickered.

Ruma seemed as cold as her brother, perhaps even more. Her hood hid her messy reddish-gold hair. Her scowl showed clear suspicion. It was clear she was no thick-head.

With a wave of her hand, two pillars suddenly lit with flame and a large statue appeared out of the darkness. It was huge, reaching to the ceiling. Mehrunes Dagon's legs bulged with muscles and he wore a cloth with spikes. His torso was naked except an arm brace on his lower left. His lower two arms reached to his face while the top two reached to the ceiling. His face was blocked by his hands.

Below him, in front of his feet, a stone slate had an unconscious Argonian lying on top, almost like he was asleep. Ruma turned back to them. "Kill the Argonian and you will be part of us."

Crow said nothing as Ruma handed him a dagger with a blood red sphere on the handle. He didn't look at them, and Nightshade really thought he was going to do it. She looked at Elyon, and it looked like she turned away. She was looking at the book.

Up close, it wasn't just a white book. It had a symbol. It wasn't the sun on the horizon, but a black symbol Nightshade had never seen before, and yet it was familiar. It was a flat line on top with two curved lines on either side, like a pair of uneven fangs, and in between was a dot.

Ruma eyed them with distaste and turned her attention to Crow. Most of the people below the stage had left and only a handful stayed to watch, Harrow included.

In an instant, Crow had turned on Ruma, knocking her down. Elyon ran to get the book, but she stopped, almost like a force had grabbed her.

The handful had come up now. Ice was fighting his best, using his knives. Nightshade was trying to get the Argonian to wake up. Elyon had been overcome by fighting three men. Ruma was in fierce combat with Crow; she didn't throw taunts like her brother.

"Nightshade! Get the book!" Elyon shouted. Nightshade finally slapped the Argonian awake. "Quick! Get up!"

He held his head and looked around at the action. "Am I still dreaming?"

"No. Quick, find an exit and _get out of here!_"

"Thanks," he said breathlessly, and ran.

She sprinted past the others and grabbed the book. For a moment, she felt dizzy and faint, but she was getting used to the feeling. Simultaneously, a rumble occurred under their feet, and the statue started to crumble. The men were suddenly screaming like little girls and running off the stage. Large clumps of rock tumbled down. Elyon and Ice were the first to jump off. Nightshade tripped and fell down. She would've fallen on her face if Crow hadn't grabbed the back of her robe. He let her fall a much shorter distance, and he jumped.

"This way," Ice hurried behind the stage to a door, dodging the last bits of stone falling. Nightshade took off her robe to reveal her armor. Elyon followed suit, and soon Crow and Ice were back into their black robes.

They continued down a passageway until they ran up a steep slope and reached a tattered door. Panting, they opened it to be blinded by the afternoon sun. Water gently lapped at a small beach.

"Where are we?" Nightshade looked at Ice. He frowned. "We're at the eastern shore of Lake Rumare. That tunnel led right under the lake."

"So, we're right next to the Imperial City?" Crow looked around.

The place was shrouded in rocks, except a hole where the sun beamed through. "A hidden door," Nightshade sighed.

"Well, we didn't get the Amulet back," Ice seemed hopeless.

Elyon was looking at the rock. "We'll have to climb out."

They started to climb up the mountain of rock when the door swung open. Ruma, followed by Harrow and several other red robed men, appeared. Sneering, she took her staff and shot lightning at Nightshade's feet, narrowly missing.

Elyon heaved Ice up, and Crow practically pounced up. Ruma shot again while the men were trying to climb up in vain. Nightshade slipped and hung of for dear life. If she didn't die falling, Ruma and Harrow would certainly tear her apart.

Crow seemed to have a look of panic in his red eyes. Crow reached down and grabbed her hand and with enormous strength he pulled her up so hard she flipped in midair and landed on her feet.

"Uh, I don't think we're at Lake Rumare…" Elyon was looking out where Nightshade expected to see the large lake and the island with the city. Instead, she saw a puny lake surrounded by trees and shrubs.

"I think we're in the Heartlands."

"How can you tell?" Ice asked as he pushed a face down the rocks.

"The flora looks like the Heartlands around Cheydinhal. I've been here looking for ingredients," Elyon continued to survey the land. "Yes, it looks familiar. I think the road's…. that way."

"Then let's get running!" Nightshade held the book in her hands and ran. They ran through the brush.

After a few minutes, Ruma levitated herself and looked around. Harrow and the others had given up already. She didn't trust the little beetle. She smirked. "They'll be back. All's going according to plan."


	15. Chapter 15: Invitation Only

Chapter 15: Invitation Only

The terrain was rugged from the small lake the team had come to. After they were sure they weren't being followed after several minutes of sprinting, they rested on a log and Ice found out where they were. They were near a Lake Arrius, a small body of water north of Cheydinhal, and Elyon was wrong. The way they went didn't lead to the road after all but into some forest and mountain terrain. They hiked a long way, from sets of rocky hills to a steep mountain topped with snow. They camped out the night, telling ghost stories to cheer themselves up by the campfire Nightshade deftly made. They arrived at Cloud Ruler Temple at around seven in the morning.

Nightshade greeted the warm comfort of the main hall by hugging herself and the book and diving for a chair near the fire. It was practically black outside and had started to snow with the wind. Elyon was giving a weather report to the ever-sleepy Baurus and Ice, who continued to look at the map until something brushed against his leg. Confused, he frowned upon the site of the wolf pup that ran to greet Elyon. "How'd she get here?"

Elyon grinned. "I told her to go here before we left. I know it would be dangerous. Isn't she a smart little pup?" she ruffled the fur on her head affectionately and Richu responded with a playful jump at her hand.

Crow turned, his arms crossed. During the trek he had been rubbing them once in a while; helping Nightshade seemed to have made him pull a muscle.

Jauffre, who had been using the time to change into his armor, came out of the hall. He looked perfectly normal, and when he looked at Nightshade, it was like he was hit with a sudden gust of wind. And he saw the book.

"What is that?" he pointed a shaky finger at the white book. She looked at him and shrugged.

"We haven't opened it yet," Elyon frowned. "It's evil, isn't it?"

"I'd go beyond evil." Jauffre frowned. "That's a book Mehrunes Dagon himself wrote. Everyone's who tried to read it has died. No one knows what's in it."

"Except one person."

All heads turned to see Martin. His powdered blue robes were now a deep navy azure. His hair looked neater than the last time Nightshade saw him. He also seemed to have large circles under his eyes with a slight tint of bruise color.

"What do you mean?" Baurus said this before Jauffre could even open his mouth.

"I… had a dream. There was a… a man, High Elf, I think. All I remember his he was in this sort of Ayleid ruin. There was… fire… and laughter, but it was cold."

"Mankar," Nightshade muttered. Martin looked at her. "Yeah, I think he said that."

"So how did he read it?" Ice looked suddenly like he was hurt. In fact, everyone except Nightshade and Martin looked dismal.

Martin shrugged. "I think I should look at the book."

"I want to help," Nightshade suddenly stood up from her warm seat.

"Sure," Martin seemed indifferent, but Ice looked suspicious. "Is that thing safe?"

"It's only a book," Nightshade smirked. "What, are you actually worried about me now?"

"No!" Ice looked a little flustered. "I just don't like that book."

"Right," Baurus joined in with the taunting. Jauffre scowled.

"All right, people. Current assignment: figure out what's in the book. And no one goes outside."

With these words a loud whistle of the wind passed through the beams of the roof.

"I hate the cold," Ice sneezed.

* * *

Martin and Nightshade sat in the library, reading side by side.

The book was pretty evil, not to mention gruesome and graphic. There were pictures about every other page, and there seemed to be two of the same picture. One was of the real world while on the other page was an inverse side of Oblivion, like one was a man sneaking around in the corner of the picture in a nighttime city that was in the snow. Its inverse was the man being tortured by demon-like creatures in black armor and gray skin.

Martin was the only one really reading and absorbing the words while Nightshade marveled at the pictures in their detail. There was one she actually liked that was unlike any of the others. It was a woman who was floating above a river and grass with flowers and a tree in the background. Her face was covered with her black hair, while her right hand was in the air and the left was on her belly. The inverse side was the woman floating above the wastes of Oblivion, the river becoming lava. But her right hand was on her heart and the left was in the air. She frowned, confused by the transfiguration.

The last picture she looked at with a marvel was one of a face. This was only one picture with no pair, but it was a pair in itself. It was a face of a girl. One side, the left, was the face with the trees and shrubs in the background, while her right side was made of metal, like her face had been ripped off to reveal a cyber-like inside with a metal skull and a small eye. In the background there was Oblivion.

"Well," Martin sighed. "I think I'll need to read it again to get any real significance." He closed the book. Nightshade nodded. "Yes. It's interesting, though. I don't see why the others were making such a big deal about it."

"Yeah," Martin agreed. "I mean, we're not dead yet, are we?"

He looked at her questioningly and suddenly noticed Ice out of the corner of his eye, scowling and sulking under a layer of blankets and a rather reddish nose near the framing of the door. "What are you doing here?" Martin asked.

"I got bored." He sounded very nasal and sick. "I thou'b I'd see what you'b been doi'b."

"Oh," Nightshade looked back at the book, uninterested in Ice's illness. Martin shrugged. "We just read it. Want to read?"

Nightshade gave him such a taunting stare he shuffled forward reluctantly and looked at the book. Martin opened it for him, and Ice raised an eyebrow.

"What's the matter?"

"How can you read that?"

"Read what? It's perfectly legible."

"Du'be," he sniffed. "They're in symbols."

* * *

Ice's statement made Martin spend the next fifteen minutes asking everyone in the fort if they could read the text. Not one answered that they could. They were all generally the same: "Is this some sort of joke, your majesty?" "They're nothing but symbols, sir." "Uh……. No."

This caused both Nightshade and Martin great distress. _They _could read it perfectly and no one else could. Finally, they consulted Jauffre.

"Well," the Breton began. "I can understand Martin being able to read it, being Dragonborn and all, but you I don't have any idea."

Elyon and Crow had followed them and listened by the doorframe.

"Have you _no _idea what your heritage is?"

"No. I'm an orphan."

Jauffre got even more frustrated. "By the Nine, how many orphans are there in this world?"

"Well, I'm an orphan," Martin added.

"Me two," Ice chimed, and then sneezed.

"I'm an orphan," Crow joined in.

"I'm an orphan." Elyon's words caused Nightshade and Ice to turn. "You are?" she said.

"Yeah. Been an orphan for as long as I remember."

"I al'bays thou'b you was'b a…" Ice stopped, either because he had no word to put or because he felt a sneeze coming on.

"Well, seeing as the last evil thing you had blew up, I'll let Martin and only Martin read the book," Jauffre said.

Before Nightshade could protest, a Blade suddenly came running in, heaving great breaths. She had bits of snow on her armor and had apparently run. "Letter…to… a Miss… Nightshade…" She handed an envelope, plain except an odd seal disfigured by poor stamping skills. The red wax was mutated to be nothing but a circle with squiggles.

Ice, like magic, appeared by her side faster than the others, whom peered over her shoulder. Nightshade looked around.

"Well?" Ice's impatience showed.

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to open it?"

She frowned, but broke the seal anyway.

_Dear Miss Nightshade,_

_You have been invited to Rosethorn Hall in Skingrad to a once-in-ten-years ball. Your humble host Nyra Minoto proudly honors the tradition of the memorial celebrations. The festivity begins the last day of Last Seed. We hope to see you there._

_Nyra Minoto_

"Never heard of her," Nightshade refolded the invitation. "I don't think I'll go."

"Nonsense," Jauffre hissed, "you need the time off. Plus, who doesn't know the Hero of Kvatch?"

"Erhb, Hero_es _of Kvatch," Ice pouted. "Why weren't we invited?"

"Who says you aren't?" she looked at the paper again.

"It says _Miss Nightshade_, not, _Nightshade and friends_. If she wanted all of us to, she'd say. Trust me; I know how these formal people work."

"Why should I start trusting you?"

Before they could get into a bitter argument, Elyon broke them off. "You are in no condition to go, Ice, even if you were invited. I wouldn't let you."

"Why can'b you jus'b _cure _me?" his nose grew stuffy and he sneezed.

"There is no cure for the common cold. You'll just have to battle it out."

"I want to go," Martin changed the subject. "I haven't been out of this place for days."

"I'm going too," Crow piped up, but Elyon shook her head.

"No. Your arm needs rest. You seriously pulled a muscle back there and it's not fully healed."

Jauffre was oddly quiet and was pondering. "Martin, you've been training, right? I suppose you can't be cooped up here, but once the party ends, you all come back. Aria, get Baurus, he's going too."

* * *

Nighttime came down fast as the trio walked down the mountains and hills. Nightshade had trekked that day already, and her legs were growing sore again. She drank Elyon's fatigue potions; she had several for the trip. Martin seemed to just glide over the rocks and bumps with ease, just like Baurus.

The talk was light, but Nightshade enjoyed it. They had laughs and Baurus was always in a good mood, even when they trudged through the blizzard.

They left behind the blizzard, but the Jerall Mountains were covered in dark clouds. They were just about to pass out of the Great Forest when Baurus figured they should stop and camp out the rest of the night.

Martin sat, shivering a little, next to Nightshade. Baurus was sitting across from them. The fire crackled quietly in the center of their small circle and a pot of stew the cook made just before they left boiled slightly.

"So, she just came out of nowhere and attacked you?"

"Yeah," Nightshade grinned. "We chased her away though." She punched Martin lightly. "I've been telling you my adventures, so you tell me yours."

"Well, I'm not as exciting as you," he blushed a little. "I just cure people and pray and stuff…"

The words, "Wow, that's boring shit," came to Nightshade's mind, but her mouth said, "That's not so bad. It's safe, anyway."

"It doesn't matter if it's safe our not. It's _so _boring! I want adventure, something to spice up my life!"

"And you surely got it," Baurus stirred the stew around a little. "Bet you weren't counting on being the next emperor, huh?"

"No, no, I wasn't." Martin looked into the bright fire.

"I know how you feel," Nightshade almost whispered.

* * *

Martin, being an early riser, woke the two with a nice breakfast of eggs and strips of venison. Groggy, Baurus ate slowly, so they were walking at around seven in the morning. They hit the east gate of Skingrad in an hour.

Skingrad seemed bigger than Cheydinhal. It wasn't as floral and lots of stone walls, bridges, houses, shops, and roads. People were busily walking past them, not noticing they existed, and went on with their lives.

Not to be too obvious, they changed clothes. Martin wore a dark red, longed-sleeved shirt with green pants and dark brown shoes, not clothes he liked. Baurus wore light green, short sleeved shirt with fur greaves and leather boots. He told Martin he could change when they got into an inn.

Nightshade, however, wore a sleek red silk blouse with gold trim. Her skirt was matching red velvet with purple lining, and her shoes were red with rather high heels that hurt. When she stepped out of her tent that morning both guys seemed amazed that she could actually be feminine. "You have to seem ritzy for these people," Baurus said. "You have to keep up appearances."

They arrived at the Two Sisters Lodge with their belongings, or rather Baurus and Martin carrying everything. Nightshade wanted to help, but Ice, who coached her on how to be rich, told her to treat the commoners like scum. Honestly, she just wanted this day to be over.

"Miss Nightshade?"

A Wood Elf man was waiting by the door, aged with white hair and wrinkles. He bowed at her presence and ignored the boys behind her. "Miss Minoto has requested all guests to stay at Rosethorn. It's tradition and is very humble of her to do so. These places can be very… dirty."

"Alright," Nightshade didn't mind. A free bed was a good thing. "Let's go."

"I'm afraid it's invitation only," he said, looking at Baurus and Martin. "They'll have to stay here."

Ah, yes, of course Ice had to be right. She sighed. "Fine, I'll come and get you when the party's over."

As the man ushered her to Rosethorn Hall, no one noticed the small smirk on his face.

* * *

Rosethorn was a large mansion building that overshadowed every other house on the road. It had several wings: a study, a living room, and a kitchen on the bottom floor, the dining room and bedrooms on the second floor, and the attic on the third. The basement door was in the kitchen and was ajar as Nightshade walked past it.

Her room was to be shared, for there were six guests and three guest rooms. Fafnir, the Wood Elf, told her the guest's names, but left her alone in the room with her stuff (all she had was another change of clothes, some potions from Elyon, her handy destruction book, and her prized Sunderblade sword).

There were five other guests, not counting Nyra Minoto. The woman she was sharing her room with was a Dark Elf named Dovesi Dran. Next door was a Nord named Nels the Naughty, and when his roommate, an old woman called Matilde Petit, came, there was a large commotion and complaining about a woman sharing a room with a man, especially someone called Nels the Naughty. Next to their room was Neville, "a retired soldier", as Dovesi explained, and a nobleman called Primo Antonius.

The ball didn't start until six, which gave Nightshade time to look around Skingrad a while. She browsed the shops, but had no money to buy anything. By five she went back and changed, put on a little eye makeup, and put on the only jewelry she had: her necklace with the black stone.

She was the first to arrive in the dining room. She wore a black, sleek outfit with gold trim and a low neck. The designs were floral in a dark way, and the sash about her waist was a shiny gold silk. Her necklace showed beautifully.

The clothes she wore she got Elyon to enchant for her. They shielded her of ten percent of damage and resisted poison and diseases, just in case. Dovesi was going to wear a similar outfit, but changed at the last minute to a fancy navy blue outfit.

Everyone else came and sat around the two tables set up with three chairs. The guests were divided by gender.

They made light, casual chat that no one seemed particularly interested in. And then it all stopped when there were sounds of steps coming up the stairs.

The person was an Imperial girl, older than Nightshade, dressed in a black dress that was large waste-down. It was a type of dress Nightshade had never seen before, with layers of cloth going down from her waste. The top of the dress was like a corset with lace going through the holes. The sleeves were long, and the cuffs were much like the bottom of the dress. And her face was very familiar. Her hair was an auburn ponytail with tints of red and her bangs went neatly to the side of her face in two strands.

"Welcome," he voice was oily and slick with a tinge of darkness, "I am glad you all could make it. I'm your host, Nyra Minoto. Welcome to Rosethorn Hall."

There was applause from the six sitting at the round tables. She nodded, but did not smile. "I've decided that this year, there will be a contest. As you all know, the last owner of this mansion was wealthy, and, as rumor has it, he left a treasure here. I happen to know that this treasure is real, but I have no clue where it is. So, I have locked the door out of this place, including the servant's door in the kitchen. The first person to find this treasure I will share more than half of it and unlock the doors so we can leave. So, let the party begin!"

Everyone dispersed immediately except Nightshade, who looked confused. Minoto looked equally confused at her. "What are you waiting for?"

"So, you want us to be your dogs and sniff out treasure?"

"Yes, that's the idea," Minoto seemed annoyed at her disobedience. "Perhaps you didn't hear the part that you get more than half if you find it."

"I'm not interested," Nightshade waved her hand in dismissal. "I'll just go now if this isn't going to be a real party."

She made an odd smirk. "Then you missed the part where I said that the person who found the treasure _gets the key_."

Yes, Nightshade had missed that, and frowned upon the knowledge. "Fine, let the others find it, I don't care. I'm rather tired and I think I'll take a nap. Please wake me up when it's time to leave." She realized she was being rather bitchy.

"Okay," Minoto seemed rather happy in a suspicious sort of way, almost maniacally.

Nightshade cringed at her, but walked off into her room.

* * *

Nightshade twitched violently before waking up from her abnormal dream. She could remember running from something, or more. She remembered turning around, and it wasn't what she expected.

She heard a knock on her door and saw the Nord gentleman stick his head through. "Uh, yes, can I help you?"

He stepped in wordlessly and just looked at her. She sat up quickly, clothes still on. "Can you speak?" It was on the tip of her tongue to say "sir".

"Uh, ma'am, I was wondering if you… found anything…" he was looking up and down her in a way that made Nightshade shiver and stand up.

"No, I haven't. You go back to your search; I'll stay here."

"May I stay with you?"

"No!" Her outburst reverberated through the house, and she shut the door in his face.

She soon grew bored in her room, even when she started to read. She wished someone was there with her; she hadn't been alone like this since she left the Bloodworks. So she went out to seek Dovesi, the closest person she had as a friend.

Matilde was in the dining room, muttering to herself as she looked around the chairs and tables. She looked up to see Nightshade. "Ah, child, looking here too?"

"No, Miss Petit. I'm just looking for company."

"Why aren't you looking for money?"

"Money isn't important to me," she knew if Ice found out about this he'd strangle her.

Matilde shrugged. "The more for us," she looked at her through the side of her eye. "Hey, you're the Hero of Kvatch, aren't you? I heard about the disaster recently from the Horse Carrier. It's hard to believe such a young person like you can do that."

"I had help," she started to feel uncomfortable. This hero business wasn't very… good.

"Yeah, well, I could only dream of such things. Neville, on the other hand, has lots of practice, hasn't he?"

"What do you mean?"

"That Neville is evil, I tell you. Nyra told me all about how he killed those innocent natives in Hammerfell. It's so disgraceful."

"What about Primo Antonius?"

"He's a well-mannered soul, but…"

"But what?"

"He seems… cruel, even if he's charming. It's like he's hiding something."

There was a scream from below in the study and the two rushed off downstairs. Dovesi was standing over the body of Nels the Naughty, dead as a doornail. His back gushed blood from where he had been stabbed twice.

Primo and Neville had come from the basement and Nyra from the living room, rather slowly. "What happened?" Matilde demanded.

Dovesi was trembling. A silver knife lied near her feet, covered in blood and staining the nice carpet.

"I… I just came from the living room and saw him, dead. Miss Minoto can be my—alibi."

"Oh, that's odd how you suddenly jump to the fact of a murderer," Nyra said, voice unemotional, the exact contrast from hers. "I'm afraid I can't make such a claim. I remember not you crossing the living room. You must've come from the kitchen, or perhaps you didn't come at all and were here all along."

"I can vouch that," Neville, with his booming voice, stated. "The last time I saw her was right here in this room."

"But…but," Dovesi was starting to sob. "I couldn't kill him… I just couldn't…" Matilde looked pitifully at her and took her in her arms. "Shhh, calm down. No one is accusing you of anything." She glared at Neville, who folded his arms.

"Right. Well, there's nothing we can do until someone finds the treasure," Nyra turned and paid no attention to the complaints behind her.

Dovesi was accompanied to her room by Nightshade. Matilde was too busy giving Neville a lecture, which he just rolled his eyes. Primo had his hands behind his back and listened intently.

"I say it's Nyra," she muttered between sobs. "That bitch is lying through her teeth…"

Nightshade was looking rather worried. What if she killed him unconsciously, just like how the Sigil Stone blew up? What if she somehow made that knife go for him? She started to shake a little, but stopped herself.

Dovesi was left in her room and continued to sob.

* * *

Nyra held a meeting in the living room and stared out into space, looking a little pale. "My guests," she addressed them, "I fear I have grave news. I've lost the key."

"WHAT!" Matilde just seemed to blow up. "First you accuse that poor dunmer of murder and now you _lost the key_!"

Nyra coldly looked at her, but said nothing. Primo cleared his throat. "I guess now we have to look for a key and the treasure." He group left again, all except Nightshade and Nyra.

She examined Nightshade with cold eyes. "Dunmer, I know you were the last to see the Nord alive. You're my prime suspect. I believe Dovesi couldn't have the guts."

"Well, let you find proof," Nightshade liked this game Nyra was playing. It was a game of witty remarks that sounded snotty and rich. But of course, as she turned and walked out, she knew she'd have to watch her back.

* * *

Dovesi was found, dead, when Matilde went to check on her with Nyra. Her neck was slashed open, another silver knife near the wound. Matilde fainted and was brought back by a rather annoyed Nyra when Nightshade came in and almost threw up. "Get a hold of yourself, woman…"

"How can you ask me to do that?" she shrieked. Primo and Neville came up the stairs.

"By the Nine," Neville held his heart and Primo merely looked away, both acts rather suspicious. Neville must've seen killings before, and Primo was just a nobleman, and a young one at that. He could take the sight more than him.

Nyra looked at Dovesi in a disgusted manner, as if it was her fault she died.

"Could you men escort Matilde to her room? I think I need a nap…"

Nightshade followed her. Her face, those sharp features, shrouded in darkness. She looked so much like that assassin, but how? Her name not only matched D.L. but she couldn't have killed them; Dovesi said she saw her in the living room and Matilde was upstairs the whole time. Unless… unless Matilde was the murderer.

"Nightshade, might I dare ask a question?" Nyra looked at her.

"You may."

"Where were you during this?"

"Down in the basement, looking around. Your food is very fresh."

"Hmm," she snorted and retired to her chambers a stretch away from Nightshade's room.

She looked about some more, admiring the paintings on the walls in the living room, and suddenly Primo came down the stairs, eyes wild. "Help…me…" he wheezed, and he dropped down, blood oozing from the axe in his back.

Neville looked at Nightshade, just as scared as Primo was. "Wh—what?" he stammered. "He tried to attack me… He killed Matilde. Go look!"

Nightshade took a step back, back into the living room. He advanced. "Please, you must believe me… I didn't kill Dovesi or Nels!"

Suddenly, his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell, his knees giving away. Behind him was an angry Dovesi, a smeared, fake wound dripping down her neck, the make-up melting. Her crazy, red eyes fell upon Nightshade and she pulled the sword out from behind his head, blood dripping onto his hair. She looked down at him, then at her. "You... you killed him!"

"What?" Nightshade was mortified. "You just stabbed him!"

"You _killed him_!" she screamed and swung the sword at her head. She ducked and ran for Nyra's room.

Nyra was not, in fact, asleep but was sitting up on her bed. She looked unsurprised to see Nightshade come into her room and bolt the door.

She sighed. "Dovesi wasn't dead, was she?"

She shook her head, catching her breath.

"Figured. Should've killed her myself," she looked at Nightshade, and then waved something off. "She's too strong for me. I think she's half Orc to have that berserker power. She'll be like that for hours. That's how she got on the hit list." Nyra's voice changed from snotty to just normal and hopeless. Nightshade, confused took her by the shoulders. "_What the hell is going on?!_"

"I suppose you should know, seeing as we're not getting out alive unless we help each other. I killed Nels before Dovesi came and saw me in the living room. I denied having seen her to provoke Neville, but that didn't work, then I tried provoking you, and that didn't work. I got Matilde to think Neville did it, but Primo got to her before she could get to him, and Neville got Primo, and now the live Dovesi is going after us, believing _we're _the killers. That's irony for you," she laughed nervously. "Now, we have to get by that deranged troll to reach the door."

"Ok, I have three questions. One: You have the key? Two: I need my stuff. Three: _Who are you?_"

"Question two was not a question," Nyra was starting to get on her nerves, so she shook her. "Okay, okay. Yes, I never lost the key. I said it to make everyone panic and kill everyone else. I'm Dalkai Laneth, assassin assigned to kill everyone at the party, all people that have escaped death before, like you."

"D.L. You tried to kill me!"

"Yes, yes, I did. It's my job."

"Why?"

"Well, see, that's a very personal—"

"No, why am I a target?"

"Dunno. I've been trying to figure that out myself. You just appeared out of nowhere on the list. The policy is don't ask, don't tell."

The doorknob started to shake. Nightshade thought quickly. "Okay, you take the key and run for the door. I'll go to my room and get my stuff and follow you. I'll go first, okay?"

Dalkai nodded.

"Okay. One, two, three!"

She unlocked the door and ran at a speed almost to challenge a lion. She went into her room to grab the already packed bag and heard the lock downstairs click open, and then click again.

"_That bitch!_"

She couldn't escape from the front door, and she could hear footsteps coming up the stairs.

* * *

Martin grew bored and couldn't sleep. It was midnight and he had only slept an hour. He and Baurus were having a good time downstairs at the bar with the other people, laughing and getting drunk. He wasn't fully sober yet (that wine got him drunk fast), but he could think clearer than before.

And then an insane thought came to his head. Why not crash Nightshade's party? She must be having a hell of a time with the other people. And he was right.

He got up, got dressed, and went out into the brisk night. Street candles were lit in the lampposts and gave orange glows.

He wandered around for a while until he found the biggest house in the city. He read a metal plate nailed next to the door. "Rosethorn Hall," he squinted in the dark. "This is it."

He knocked. No answer. He repeated. Nothing. So he tried opening it. It was locked.

"Bummer," he slurred, and then saw a very open window a floor up. "I'll sneak in and scare the pants off them!"

He climbed up onto a conveniently placed vine assemble and tumbled out onto the floor. At first, he thought he was dreaming, because he saw Nightshade slashing about with her Sunderblade and her pack of belongings at another dunmer with a sword. And another wild thought came into his head. Why not stun the person?

He slurred and enchantment and a blast of green-white light hit Dovesi on the side of her face, and she froze. Nightshade suddenly noticed Martin.

"Thank the gods!" she grabbed him and pulled him up from the floor. "I thought I'd have to kill her. I've never been so happy to—why is your robe on backwards?"

"It is?" Martin hadn't noticed. He was goggling at her dress and how good she looked in it.

"Never mind. Let's go down the window," she helped him up. Martin was just bewildered at why he was going out again if he just came in. "I'll explain later. For now, let's just go!"

_A Word from Haunt: This chapter is from the Dark Brotherhood quest "Whodunit", a very fun quest I thought. And Nyra Minoto has the same initials as Night Mother. Just thought I'd add it._


	16. Chapter 16: Troubles in the Safe Place

Chapter 16: Troubles in the Safe Place

Baurus opened a sleepy, brown eye with a bit of a headache. He looked out his window without sitting up; the sky was still starry. Grumbling, he pulled the sheets tighter towards him. The beds at the Two Sisters Lodge weren't so bad.

He was drifting to sleep when his door opened with a bang. Something yelled at him to get up, but it didn't quite register in his half-conscious brain. And something hit him hard on his shoulder.

"Erhm…" he grumbled.

"Get up before I decide to tell Jauffre someone isn't keeping their eye on the Emperor."

Emperor? At this Baurus leapt up, making the blood rush downward and get him light-headed. He took a candle and held it out, where Nightshade hardly muttered a word before a flame flickered on the wick. "What'd I do?"

The scene in front of him was like that of some sort of twisted dream. Nightshade stood in a rather nice, slim dress, holding Martin by the collar of his navy blue robe. He was on the floor, asleep.

"Aren't you supposed to be at that party?" he rubbed his right temple.

"No. Long story short: evil assassin killed practically everybody and Martin here, drunk, saved me from a homicidal maniac!"

"Oh," Baurus didn't seem too concerned as if things like that happened every day. "And of course it's my fault, just like the emperor's death."

Baurus's self-pity made Nightshade roll her eyes. Insensitive, she knew, but that girl was probably mobile by now. "Please, Baurus, it's not your fault. I didn't mean it. Let's just get back to the Cloud Ruler Temple and report this to Jauffre."

The Redguard breathed deeply. "Ok."

* * *

The noon sun hung over the blinding white snow of the Jerall Mountains. Leafless trees stood bare and black against it. Brown shrubs sat below them and gently blew in the chilly wind.

The trio walked quickly in the crunching ice uphill. They had slept for two hours before having a little breakfast and almost jogged their way through the Great Forest. Tired, it was Martin who gave out first and rested near the border of the forest and mountains.

Both Martin and Nightshade were sore from walking so fast up to Bruma, where they bought a proper breakfast. And now, silently as if they were being chased by an invisible wolf, they went to the Cloud Ruler Temple.

As a watch guard opened the large, wooden gates, Ice greeted them. He was still wrapped around his blanket, but was looking better than before. He held a grin on his face and was shaking a little from the temperature difference between inside and out.

"Guys, guys, you came at the right time! You'll never guess what's going on!"

"No, the trip was hell, we had a terrible time, and we ran our way to Bruma, thanks for asking," Nightshade hissed at him.

"What?" Martin, now somber to some extent after the breakfast in Bruma, seemed as interested as a tired priest could be.

"Well, when you guys left, a couple of hours later, Elyon started yelling at Crow about something weird and Jauffre sent them to different wings. And now, they somehow started another fight and are shooting spells across the Main Hall!"

Perhaps if Nightshade wasn't so tired, she'd have ran into the Main Hall and tried to stop the fight. But no, she was tired, so she merely followed Martin and Baurus up to the hall. She saw Silver in the stable, eating hay on the ground, and Richu lied to the side of the door, head on her paws. She whined at them and temporarily held her head up to look at them. Then, she put it back down and her eyes followed them into the Main hall.

Ice wasn't kidding. The two literally hid behind two benches on their sides and peered over to shoot spells, none hitting one another. Crow's spells were larger and brighter in colors as he shouted words. Elyon's were more frequent, but less powerful.

Martin ducked as a spell ricocheted off a wood pillar and left a scorch mark. Baurus waved to Jauffre at the other side of the room who hid behind a chair near the fireplace.

"Stop it!" Nightshade's voice didn't sound above the whizzing and blasting of spells. She tried again, but was of no avail.

And finally, it stopped. Both Crow and Elyon, on opposite sides of the room, flopped down and rested, their magicka all gone.

"What in Talos's name are you doing?" Jauffre stood up. His armor was blackened in some spots where he obviously interfered.

"That bastard is a… a bastard!" Elyon, for once, seemed lost for words.

Crow scowled. "I don't see what you expected."

"I expected some brains!"

"Yeah, and there was—"

"Ok, ok," Jauffre held up his hands. "If you two can't get along for whatever reason, I'm throwing both of you out of Cloud Ruler Temple. If you don't want that to happen, then resolve your differences. I'll give you ten minutes. Martin, help them." He signaled to a Blade behind him, who was using a door for protection, and they walked out.

"Lazy," Ice grumbled, but he followed them.

Elyon and Crow had gotten up and were dusting themselves off. Nightshade seemed angry. "What is going on?!"

Martin put up a hand before they could answer. "Ok, I've dealt with this sort of thing before. Pull up a chair, everyone."

In a few minutes they all sat in a semicircle around the fire in small, wooden chairs. Martin sat in the middle, facing the fire, with Elyon and Crow to either side of him, and Ice next to Crow and Nightshade next to Elyon, both closest to the fire. Baurus insisted on standing, amused.

"Ok," Martin addressed the two combatants, "here we will have a nice discussion about your feelings. No yelling, cursing, or interrupting. Ok, Elyon, you go first."

She took a deep breath. "Well, Nightshade told me how Crow had become a necromancer while he was in Solsthiem. I went up to him and asked him why in Talos's name would he do that—"

"'Asked'? More like screamed," Crow hissed. Martin glared at him. "Shush."

Elyon continued, "He started to say this weird stuff that's kind of personal," she looked at Ice and Martin. "But, just because Sayura is dead doesn't mean he should be digging up graves! He should've come to me!"

"You?" Crow scoffed, "You, who trudged into the mountains to become a hermit? I wasn't about to climb a cliff just to talk to you. And remember, you didn't really like me very much at the time. You were too busy grieving yourself!"

Martin nodded. "Ok, I think we're getting somewhere."

"We are?" Ice yawned. "So, this one girl's dead. Live and move on."

Crow's attack was so swift Ice didn't have a chance. He slapped him hard on his left cheek, causing him to be knocked off his chair and twist to the floor. Crow had gotten up out of his chair and was probably going to kick him if Baurus hadn't interfered and held him back. Tears showed in his red eyes. "What do you know of her? She was everything I had! You know _nothing_!"

"Calm down," Martin motioned to him to sit down. Biting his lip, trying to hold back the tears, he sat back down, and his hood covered his eyes once again.

Ice had recovered, most of the pain from shock. He glared at Crow and rubbed his cheek, a red mark where his hand was. He almost looked like he would cry, but not from pain. He stayed silent.

The whole room seemed eerie suddenly. Martin was wordless in tension. Elyon had calmed down. Nightshade was a little worried.

"I'm sorry," Crow muttered. Ice crossed his arms in anger and got up. He stared at Crow for a moment, and then stomped out of the room, slamming the East Wing door behind him. Elyon flinched violently.

"Nice," Baurus looked at Crow, and then at his nails.

"I think that was a little harsh, even for Ice," Nightshade murmured. "You shouldn't have slapped him so hard."

"I say you apologize properly," Elyon looked at him after staring at the floorboards. "You can't expect him to understand."

"Crow, I finally understand," Martin cleared his throat. "You wanted to bring back her and necromancy was the answer for you, but it's not. Crow, you can't bring back the dead. Necromancy makes bodies move like a puppet. It doesn't bind the soul and spirit to the physical world. It's too late."

Crow nodded, his face looking like the day Nightshade had first met him, his hood over his eyes, his face expressionless, but it was colder, emotionless. He merely nodded and got up.

"Crow, it's not your fault. Grief makes one do things they don't mean," Elyon stood up too to pat his shoulder sympathetically. He nodded again, and went to the West Wing, where he closed the door soundlessly.

There was silence again before Baurus interrupted. "Well, shouldn't you get back to studying that book they brought?"

"Yes," Martin seemed grateful for the excuse. "Heh, I don't even know what it's called. But you can't save the world split up like this. You need to settle your feuds before it's too late. Now is a really bad time. We need teamwork."

Nightshade nodded and looked at Elyon, who didn't seem to be listening. Martin frowned slightly, waved, and exited to the West Wing.

She couldn't stand these continuous silences.

"Elyon, you don't look so well." Nightshade touched her shoulder and patted it lightly.

"I handled this the wrong way," she sat up and slapped her hands on her face. "Crow's right, I am childish."

"It's ok. Now you know better," she wasn't too sure how to respond. She was bad at comforting people.

"I'm going to go and see Silver," she stood up. "Maybe you should go see what's wrong with Ice."

Nightshade sat for a while, waiting for something, perhaps luck. Sighing, she grew bored and took Elyon's advice.

Ice sat alone in the East Wing on a bench. His body was turned so he could pull his knees up toward himself. His chin was perched on top of his patellae and he stared out into space.

Nightshade quietly walked up to him. "Ice, are you ok?"

Her soft voice only made him draw his knees closer.

She approached cautiously. "Ice, you know Crow didn't mean it."

He didn't reply.

He was acting very weird for, well, Ice. She didn't expect this from him; tears seemed more realistic. In fact, Ice was generally weird in the way he acted and talked. What was wrong with this guy?

"Ice, if you want to talk or something—"

"Leave me alone!" he thrust out his hand that could've slapped her if she were a step closer. He dug his face downward and his shoulders shook a little.

Nightshade grew confused, but she patted his shoulder in comfort. "It's ok…."

"He's a bastard," he sobbed, "He has no authority to slap me like that. I was just trying to be helpful, just trying to make sense of things, but no, he hurt me."

She didn't quite agree with Ice; what he had said was pretty insensitive; but she said nothing. "He was hysterical, that's all."

"Why is it no one ever agrees with me?"

A look of shock spread across her face. She had no clue Ice cared about that. "Umm, well, perhaps we don't understand."

"Yeah," he picked up his face and looked at her, "That's perfectly right. That Crow has no idea how that made me feel."

"He said he would apologize."

"I'd like to hear him first."

"He will."

He sniffed. "I know I can be a jerk, but that's the second time I've been slapped in Cyrodiil. Like I didn't get enough violence back home."

"What do you mean?" His comment brought new wonder and curiosity to Nightshade. This reminded her of what he said when they met, about his parents visiting shrines and how they were killed. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh," he snarled sarcastically.

"Well, don't be sorry for yourself like a sniveling coward. Maybe _you _should apologize for being an insensitive jerk to Crow and then he'll apologize for slapping you."

His face contorted into a sneer. _"This isn't my fault!"_

"Yeah, well, you keep telling yourself that and I'm sure Crow will just waltz in here and hug you. You brought this upon yourself. You have to learn the hard way sometimes."

With that, he put his face into his knees and ignored her. Sighing, Nightshade patted his arm half-heartedly and left him to pity himself.

* * *

Nightshade peered out into the courtyard of the temple. No guards were training today, so it was deserted except the usual watch. Silver was asleep in her stall, content from eating most of the hay, and Richu no longer lied near the door. Instead, the wolf pup was watching Elyon mash leaves on a small bench that wasn't there before.

"Hi, Elyon," Nightshade tried to be as cheery as possible. "What're you doing?"

"Making more healing potions," she smiled. "Richu enjoys the sounds of leaves crunching. Aloe Vera leaves aren't as effective as their seeds, but they soothe and aren't as bitter." She threw a piece of meat down from the bench to Richu, who happily ate it up. "After hearing what Baurus told me, I figured they'd be more useful in the future."

"Thanks," she sat on the opposite side of the cluttered bench top. "I wouldn't think you could do alchemy anywhere."

"Well, they don't really have a professional place here, so I make do with what I have," she stopped mashing and flexed her hands. "After a while, it hurts."

A twang sound startled both Richu and Nightshade. On the other side of the courtyard, Crow was practicing his archery on a feeble lump of hay with a target crudely painted on in bright azure. He repeated this exercise until the haystack fell off its stand from the weight of arrows. Elyon had a slight look of annoyance from the sounds.

"Crow," Nightshade bounded up to the dunmer; someone had to play peacemaker, "I want to learn how to handle a bow, just in case."

He looked surprised, but he nodded. "Ok, but you'll have to get the equipment from the armory. I only carry one around."

It didn't take long for Nightshade to go running and come back. With her she brought twenty arrows in a quiver, a katana on her belt, a fancy steel bow, and an axe; she was having a bit of trouble, but she managed.

"Well," he looked amused at the sight of her. "Where do you want to start?"

"Bow and arrows sound good."

Elyon suddenly put her stuff down and walked towards them. "I think I should help in case Crow suddenly gets a finger cut off. I know a few weapon tricks."

Crow gave a minute smile. "Ok."

Ah, nothing like weapon training to bring friends back together.

* * *

"Uung," Nightshade sorely walked into the library, her arms starting to hurt from swinging an axe and her legs from dodging Crow's quick attacks. Boy, could he move _fast_.

"Had fun?" Martin looked up from the white book and put it down when she sat. "Crow and Elyon friends again?"

"Yeah," sweat glistened on her face despite the chilly day. "They're tough."

"Figured."

"I thought I was good at fighting, but I don't stand a chance against them. They're a team."

He nodded. "Ok, I've found out two things."

"What?"

"This book is called _Mysterium Xarxes_."

"Bravo," Nightshade's sardonic reply was ignored.

"No, but look. See, I was drinking some potion I found in the kitchen—"

"Are you sure it wasn't wine?" She wouldn't forget how drunk he was last night.

"I'm sure. Well, on accident, I spilled it on the page and the picture it was on—it was a hanging—changed into a chart, or at least part of the chart. So, I've been dabbing the pictures and uncovered some diagrams. They don't make much sense, but they'll be needed to reach Paradise."

"Where did you hear that?"

"Oh, well, it says here," he turned a few pages, "or somewhere. It said something like, 'Those who are faithful do not fear death, for they will go to Paradise,' or something like that."

"Mmm," she wasn't really listening.

"I haven't even got halfway through it all. Ugg, I miss having a vacation."

"Emperors don't get vacations," Nightshade cracked her neck, a trick she learned from Ice a few days ago, or perhaps a year. Time was playing tricks with her.

He pouted slightly and then remembered about the day. "So, has Crow apologized yet?"

"No," she picked at her fingernails. "Ice's being a twat."

Martin opened his mouth, but a distant sound cut him off. It was the sound of large wooden gates being opened.

With difficulty, Nightshade and Martin ran to the Main Hall. Jauffre never seemed to stop scowling and Baurus had a look of indifference, his armored arms crossed over his chest. Ice was looking through the East Wing door. Crow was polishing his sword and Elyon was reading. Both had stopped to look at the newcomer.

She was a young, peculiar Redguard woman. Her hair was short and rolled inwards in straight, sapphire strands. Her armor was ebony in its darkness, etched with gold to help keep it together in swirling patterns. A matching, menacing mace was attached to her belt. She, too, held a scowl on her face, which didn't do well for her looks.

"Jauffre, what in Mara's name is going on?"

"Ah, Black Night, what a pleasure. What brings you from Chorrol?" Jauffre folded his arms.

She looked at everyone around, her expression unchanging. "What brings me from Chorrol? Those stupid red men, that's what, and those Oblivion gates!"

"We closed the Kvatch gate," Elyon closed her book.

"Not that gate. There have been gates opening in the wilderness and red men appearing out of nowhere either killing people or seen chanting right outside the Chorrol gates."

"This is Blades business, Black Night," Baurus glared at her in a casual way. "The Fighter's Guild doesn't need to know this."

"They do when everyone's asking for a bodyguard! I've lost three good members to these red people! _Tell me what's going on!_"

* * *

Ice came into the Main Hall to see bewildered Elyon, Crow, Martin, and Nightshade. He silently took a seat next to Nightshade.

"What was that all about?" Martin looked at the West Wing door where Jauffre took the Redguard into the library to explain things to her.

"That was Black Night Price," Baurus was standing and leaning on a bench. "Her grandfather used to be a Blade. We trust her family, but she's a pain in the ass. Since her father died, she's even meaner than before. I remember when I first joined the Blades I went to train with her father. But I guess I can understand where she comes from. The poor society in the Imperial City is sexist. Everyone told her she's amount to nothing because her family couldn't produce a son, being famous Fighter's Guild members. So, she trained and protected the Guild and its masters for years. The old master stepped down to give her the position when she saved her son from a bunch of powerful necromancers—no offence, Crow."

"None taken."

"She's pretty young to be the Fighter's Guild master," Nightshade noticed a piece of paper folded several times in Ice's hand.

"True, she's the youngest guild master, but she's tough as nails. She trains for hours every day. Sometimes I wonder if she overworks herself," Baurus shook his head. "She's too old for her age."

"What's that?" Martin looked at the piece of paper Ice was unfolding. It was a map of Cyrodiil, much like the one Ice had, with small symbols scratched on, symbols Nightshade recognized. It was the curved symbol with the dot in the middle that was on the cover of _Mysterium Xarxes_.

"Those must be the Oblivion Gates she said were appearing," Elyon stood up, and with that everyone was trying to look at the map. There was one between the Orange Road and the Red Ring Road from Chorrol. Another lied in County Skingrad south of the Gold Road, and one in County Kvatch on the Gold Coast. There were three near Cheydinhal, one near Lake Arrius, one near the fork on the Reed River towards the south, and one right next to the Blue Road. The last one was on a small peninsula in County Bravil.

Ice made a groan. "I don't want to go into another one of those things."

"Hopefully we won't have to. Perhaps if we flushed out the Lake Arrius Caverns where their hideout was, they'll disappear," Crow sounded oddly optimistic.

Baurus snorted. "I bet they moved. Anyway, there are a bunch of them and only a little of us. It's too risky."

"So, what do we do now?" Elyon questioned.

"We wait for orders."

* * *

It was seven o'clock when Black Night left. She went looking for her map and Ice, with higher spirits, was snickering rather violently. When she threatened to "cut off his annoying tongue and stab his eyes to blindness," he told her he hid it in the broom cupboard. Nightshade felt better now that he wasn't moping.

Nightshade was lounging with her soreness, and Ice was practicing making himself glow. Martin studied across the table, and he scared the both of them when he jumped up with excitement.

"I've got it!"

"Got what?" Nightshade lazily looked over at the book.

"It says here that the rituals to make Paradise portals are very limited because the items needed to perform it are limited. I've figured out there are three, and the first is the blood of a Daedra." Martin looked proud of himself as he sat back down.

"Yeah, that's great," Ice sarcastically stated. "Why don't we find Mehrunes Dagon and ask him if he could prick his finger so we can take a drop of blood."

"Well, I think it's figuratively speaking. We need something of a Daedra's, not specifically Mehrunes Dagon's."

"So, we can get something from, say, Sheogorath, or Nocturnal, and it would still work?" Nightshade was sounding interested.

"There is nothing that contradicts that."

"So, then, who?"

"Boethia!" Ice's quick answer startled them both. Their stares made him stare. "What? It's been on my mind recently."

Nightshade shrugged. "Alright. Let's go tell the others, and we'll leave in the morning."


	17. Chapter 17: Boethia Stadium

Chapter 17: Boethia Stadium

Boethia's shrine took a day and a half for Elyon, Nightshade, Ice, and Crow, along with Silver and Richu. It seemed Ice had forgiven Crow when he saved him from the jaws of a brown bear. However, they didn't spend the night in the Heartland wilderness; they reached Cheydinhal once again by nightfall. They spent the night in the same place where all the inebriated dunmer cheered upon their arrival, one patting Nightshade rather hardly on the back and saying, "How's the hero business?" With a little asking around, they found out the exact location of the shrine on their map. By morning, they were back on the road with a bit of a hangover and reached the statue of a man holding an axe by noon.

"I hate rough terrain," Ice stretched his legs. Ignored, he looked around to see the three worshippers, all of them pretty unhappy by their presence.

"Who are you? Do you wish to please Boethia?" A Redguard with a rather large afro glowered at them.

"Uh, sure," Nightshade extended an arm of welcome. "I'm Nightshade and my companions are Crow, Elyon, and Ice."

"I'm Haekwon, Boethia's worshipper." He looked at them and studied them. "Yes, I think He will be very happy with you, but He will not speak to strangers unless they bring Him an offering."

"What kind?"

"The heart of a daemon from the heart of Oblivion's planes," Haekwon sneezed. "Leave it on His alter and He shall come."

All eyes turned to Elyon, who, in turn, approached Silver and rummaged through her supplies. She had a very small, black heart, the last she had, and placed it on the altar at Boethia's feet.

It took a few seconds before his half hissing half growling voice shook their minds.

"Well, well, more warriors who feel they are the warriors for me. I'm bored of stupid little knights like you people, and I'm even bored here because no one feels they are up to the challenge. I miss the breaking of bones and the problems of mortals are boring, especially those guilds. Hmm," the God of war thought. "This gives me an idea. Mortals fighting with mortals are much more entertaining than mortals fighting with Daedra. Why not settle feuds here?" Another pause made Nightshade tense up. "Yes, yes, I have the perfect idea. Which warrior is the best: the mage, the murderer, or the thief?" He sounded excited by his malicious idea. "I welcome you—you _warriors _to my plane. You may only bring armor and your weapons of choice."

Ice jumped back in surprise as a large, whirling, sky blue portal appeared next to him. A soft chuckle sounded, and the God was gone.

"Ok…" Crow looked at the portal suspiciously.

"Yeah, let's go to Boethia for our artifact," Nightshade hissed at Ice, who shrugged.

They got themselves ready, Elyon unpacking herself from all the potions on her. Crow didn't know whether to pick his bow or sword. Nightshade frowned upon her still sore arms. Ice looked at his daggers. "This can't end well."

The group looked at the portal and Nightshade touched it. In an instant, the green, lush scene twisted into darkness, but she could hear voices, cheering voices, rising from the gloom. One was louder than the others.

"Welcome to the fight you've all been waiting for! Until today, you have seen fights in this arena between mortals of different races, mortals between Daedra, and beasts against mortals. Now, this is a unique mortal-against-mortal combat fight. In this fight, mortals from different ways of living will fight. These mortals work as different people, fighting and earning a living separately. They specialize in different areas of fighting, and some even have grudges against each other. Boethia sure has outdone himself this time, hasn't he, folks?"

A cheer erupted that was somewhere between human voices and animal cries.

Nightshade's face suddenly turned pale. Memories of watching fights when she was little came back to her. The blood was too much, and yet she could never stop staring. It was so horrific…

"This event will take place over the course of two days. Each fight will be a one-on-one, winners will fight winners, but we guarantee blood or we'll kill them ourselves!" Another cheer pounded her ears. It was so loud.

"Our contestants have been chosen. Some may not be the best of the best, but we're here for bloodshed, not fair fights! Now, our first contestant, representing the Blades, that hero we all hate for ruining the Kvatch attack, the run-away should-be outlaw, Nightshade!" Suddenly, a bright light shined on her, and she could see her surroundings.

The place was much like oblivion with lava and red dust, but there wasn't any vegetation. Around was an enclosed space, an arena, with all manners of creatures Nightshade could've never dreamed of. They all sort of had human-like qualities, but all of them were different, desperate for blood and violence. The arena itself was on oblivion design with brittle black stone and claw-like spikes coming out of nowhere. In the very front of her, however, was the God himself, a red giant without hair or horns. He wore armor of glistening black and a gallant outfit finished with a red cape. But what made him most menacing was the largest axe Nightshade had ever seen, completely black except for the silver blades.

Boos and hisses spat at her from all sides. Boethia grinned, enjoying himself with the excitement of the crowd.

The announcer, an imp-like violet creature with a pot-belly, continued. "Next is the infamous Mage Guild apprentice whose hands stray far from their owner to grab anything worth lots. Give a big welcome to Repice Hlaalu!"

"Enangui!"

"Whatever," he rolled his wrists and eyes in passing at the angered Ice. "For the Fighter's Guild, we have a no-nonsense fighter who refuses to be judged by her race and sex. She has overcome the boundaries of society, killed many lives in the process, and we don't even know her real name! Folks, I give you Black Night Price!"

The blue-haired Redguard hadn't changed a bit since Nightshade saw her a day ago. She glowered at the booing crowd.

"Fourthly, our Thief is a thief from Morrowind who has stolen since his childhood, so he's an expert. However, his connection to the Nerevarine and Mages Guild has made him a good guy: Ashen Black!"

The light shined on a rather confused Dark Elf man with light wrinkles on his soft, blue face. He wore a white cuirass with black armor on his arms and legs and boots of green glass. On his back was a large claymore gleaming icy blue. He looked like he was about to say something, but he changed his mind and simple crossed his rather muscular arms around his chest.

"The Dark Brotherhood has had a bunch of shady figures over the years, and our assassin is no different. Her life hasn't been easy, but she's found a family and plans to stick with it unless she starts to question their way of life. People of Oblivion, I give you Dalkai Laneth!"

Dalkai had changed from her dress from the last time Nightshade saw her. She now wore a black armor that fit tight around her and a hood that hid her eyes. She didn't even look up when the light shined on her. She scowled instead.

"Next is the church's most honorable priest who has a real future ahead of him. Your future emperor, Martin Septim!" the speaker pointed to the rather scared looking priest with an onslaught of boos and hisses much more than any of the others got. He continued, "Here to 'protect' him is the loyalist Bruma guard always trying to prove himself. Well, let's see what Yarjok Sjord's got!"

The guard was someone neither of them had ever seen. He was a Nord a little shorter than Crow in the standard Bruma guard armor. He didn't wear a helmet so his short, dusty blonde hair fell in his face. He looked shocked.

"Five more to go before the action folks! For the Mythic Dawn, the Daedric cult we all love is the woman who constantly proves how strong she is and yet no one seems to believe her. Trying to win favor of her evil father is Ruma Camoran!" Ruma sneered at the crowd who mocked a frightened stance in perfect unison. They laughed, which made Ruma's face flush with anger.

"Eighthly, our Knight of the Thorn, the naïve dunmer from Cheydinhal who started his insane troop and is voted the most likely to die in an Oblivion crisis, is Farwil Indarys!"

Another unfamiliar, Dark Elf face looked rather angry at the announcer. "I will beat them all and be the champ, you wait and see!" His shining, steel armor seemed too big for his scrawny body.

"The Blackwood Company, as we all know, is the enemy for the Fighter's Guild, and we've decided to invite them into our game. Here is a mercenary Khajiit who has failed in everything he's ever done: S'rasha J'skitta!"

Nightshade's heart almost leapt out of her when she saw the face of the Khajiit. It was the same Khajiit that was at the arena trying to kill her and Ice with Owyn. This time, however, he wore odd black and silver armor with a tree design on his chest. He had the same sword and didn't seem to respond in any way to the crowd as if he was deaf.

"For the East Empire Company—a group we never thought of adding until now—is a downcast dunmer from Morrowind who lost his sweetheart and more during Solsthiem's own crisis involving Hircine. Does he plan on saving the world? If he can survive this challenge! Folks, we give you…" he paused, "Mayinali Asawyaka, or just Crow!" There were screams as the crowd went wild. Crow seemed a little bashful, but bewildered.

"Last, and perhaps least, is a Morrowind rival of the Dark Brotherhood. The Morag Tong has killed legally for generations ever since the Great Houses were established, often going for criminals and exiled persons. Here, a retired assassin from her youth is Elyon Esrila!" the speaker looked rather pleased with himself as Nightshade's look of horror met Elyon's sheepish gaze.

"Ok, Daedra of all type, it's down to the fighting. First match—"

"Hold it," a loud woman's voice rung over his. Black Night was scowling even more than ever. "What if we refuse to fight?"

Boethia grinned. "Then I'll kill you, simple as that."

"Well, what if we forfeit before we kill each other? You still see blood," Elyon spoke up, causing a sneer from Farwil. "Coward. Afraid you'll lose?"

She ignored it. Boethia frowned. "Hmm, it will save me energy and spare your pathetic lives. I mean, if Septim dies, who knows what will happen. Mehrunes Dagon will rule forever…" the more the Daemon thought, the more he looked unhappy. "Fine, but that's your decision. If anyone refuses to fight, they die, understood?"

They nodded, or at least most of them did. The speaker looked at them, perhaps waiting for another interruption, and then went on. "As I was saying, the first match is between Farwil Indarys and Yarjok Sjord! The other contestants can either watch or wait in their bunks, their choice."

Suddenly, a swirl of blue magic enveloped Nightshade and the others, and a moment of light revealed into a small room, complete with beds. Nightshade was dazed and confused, as was Martin in the bed next to her. The first thing she did was look for Elyon.

"What the hell? I can't believe you're an assassin!" Ice was amazed at her. She, however, frowned. "I'm not an assassin." Crow, too, looked shocked.

"Then what were they talking about?" Nightshade joined them and at Ice's words, she put on an even angrier, wrathful scowl. Elyon flinched.

"Look, it was a long time ago. We needed the money. But I quit, alright? It was a mistake."

"How long ago?" Crow asked.

"I don't know, teenage years?" she sat down. "The job taught me about life, especially when I almost lost it. No one ever knew I was the one behind the murders. I was anonymous. I quit about two years after."

"Why?" Ice was curious now. This put a new light on Elyon.

"I almost died on a mission. I realized that if I did, no one would ever know how or why I died. I'd just disappear. I couldn't do that."

"Weren't you in the Mage's Guild at the time?"

"Yeah, but my training was over. I had free time."

"And they never found out?"

"Nope."

"And you were angry at me for being a necromancer. Look who's not using brains now?" Crow took his opportunity for payback.

Elyon hissed in an explosion of anger, "I was a fucking brainless teenager! Everyone's done something they regret as a teenager, and that happens to be mine!"

"Umm, sorry, but, what's going on?" Martin had come over to her bunk. "Why are we in Boethia's realm?"

"Because Ice wanted to come here for a Daedric artifact," Nightshade nodded to him, who had a look scolding her of being a snitch.

"What?! You came to _Boethia?_ What were you possibly thinking?"

He frowned, and then took out his daggers. "I was thinking about killing Boethia."

"That's an even _stupider _idea! You can't kill a Daedric God!"

"Says who? He killed my parents, so why can't I kill him?"

"I thought you said a group of worshippers killed your parents," Nightshade was tired of Ice's moods.

"Yeah, well, they were Boethia worshippers. They called upon his power and used it to kill my parents. Now I want revenge!"

"Ice, revenge isn't a good thing—" Elyon was cut off by a slight chuckle from Crow. He stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck killing him with two daggers. You want to kill Boethia; you'll need something a bit more… powerful, something like a Daedric artifact."

"Crow! Don't encourage him!" she stood up. Nightshade and Martin decided to let them fight over it.

"Why not? He wants to kill him, so let him."

"He'll die! You can't kill a God!"

Nightshade grew weary of the conversation after about five minutes as did Martin, and quietly they slipped away only to run into Nightshade's archenemy, Dalkai Laneth.

"Well, looks like you got away safely after _ditching me_!" Nightshade hissed.

"I'm an assassin, what do you expect?" she had a dark tone, not like what she had that night. She seemed more confined. "I look forward to finally killing you." She walked around her, and out into the arena.

Black Night was watching, amused. "Wow, they said she was young, but not _this _young." Nightshade turned to look at her. She brushed her blue hair out of her face and stood up. "I take it Baurus introduced me to you when I went to the Cloud Ruler temple. You must be the hero of Kvatch, Nightshade. And you are Martin. Yes, I saw you two, but didn't know who you were. It's an honor."

"I'm not the hero of Kvatch. I did it with some help. All I did was take the Sigil Stone."

"That's not what I heard. I was in Bravil the other day and there were rumors about you everywhere. They said you were the youngest swords-master that killed hundreds of Daedra and that you gallantly saved the Emperor from the clutches of Mehrunes Dagon himself."

"Now that's just exaggeration. Elyon and Ice really did all the fighting. There really wasn't much excitement."

"Well, I suspect one day those rumors will become true. And I also heard you two were spotted together in Skingrad. But I won't say anything more," she stopped after seeing the looks of confusion and fury. "Well, good luck."

"Thanks," Martin replied, and Black Night swiftly bowed to each of them.

They looked around. S'rasha, the Khajiit, wouldn't talk to Nightshade no matter how many times she sarcastically tried to get his attention. He did, however, shake his head when she asked if he was deaf, which was a start. She left him to sulk in his bed.

Ruma had left when they past by her bunk, and it wasn't like either of them wanted to see her. She was, after all, pure evil. Nightshade told Martin all about her.

This left the Thief's Guild's member, whom was on the other side of the room. It seemed Crow and Elyon's argument had ceased and now they weren't talking. Ice, however, seemed in high spirits. "Can we please go talk to him? Please?"

"Who is he?"

"_Who is he?_ He's one of the most famous Thieves in Morrowind and no one can prove it was him who ever did any of it!" Ice was grinning. "Come on, we have to go talk to him!"

Elyon was listening in on their short conversation. "You want to talk to him?"

"Yes!"

She got up from her bunk and motioned for them to follow her across the room.

Ashen was lying on his bed, reading a thin book without a title. He looked very relaxed and grinned at the sight of them. Ice looked rigid and scared. At first, Nightshade thought he was smiling at her, but Elyon walked past her and went to embrace him. A sudden look of shock flashed across Ice's face.

"Elyon! Wow, I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Same here! You're looking good. I'd like to introduce Martin, Ice, and Nightshade."

Martin waved. Nightshade smiled. Ice was dumbfounded.

Ashen smiled back to them. "It's an honor to finally meet the Heroes of Kvatch. I'm Ashen Black, professional thief."

"How do you two know each other?" Martin seemed puzzled.

"Do you remember Lyze? Ash is her husband," she grinned, and a booming voice rung around them.

"Our winner is Yarjok Sjord over the sniveling Farwil Indarys! Our next battle will be between Ruma and Nightshade!"

* * *

Nightshade was shaking as she walked out into the arena, gripping the hilt of her Sunderblade with her right hand. This was the exact thing she had feared for years that she had participation in such a fight.

Ruma was on the other side. She had a large staff on her back and a silver dagger on her belt. She still wore the red robes of the Mythic Dawn.

There was no way Nightshade could win this. She was weak; up to this point her victories were from luck. Ever since she killed that assassin at Weynon Priory it was all luck.

"We've just been entertained by Indarys and Sjord, but we still want some bloodshed. It's Camoran and Nightshade now!" There were cheers of boos from the crowd. "Let the fight begin!"

Nightshade was immediately hit by a strike of lightning. She stumbled back; her chest feeling like it was on fire.

Ruma didn't waste a split second. She ran, her hood in her face, and fired another shot. This time Nightshade stepped to her side with great pain and unsheathed her sword. Another strike hit her opposite shoulder, but she ran at Ruma, who was now taking out her dagger. They clashed blades; the Sunderblade was glowing more than ever.

Ruma grinned, her white teeth showing. This was a fight to the death.

* * *

"Ok, do you know where we are?"

Ice stood next to Crow in a long hallway that curved slowly to their left. There was a door every few yards, but most of them held nothing of great importance. Most of the rooms held bodies or weapons or books.

"I think we're supposed to go up, but there are no stairs in here," Ice folded his arms and continued to walk. "Gods, I hate it here."

"Well, if you were Boethia, where would you put a Daedric artifact?" Crow found a door and opened it to reveal a bunch of rotting bodies. Without great interest, he closed it. "Nothing in there."

"This is pointless. Why couldn't we take the stairs to the seats?"

"Because the seats are closed off from everyone else," they continued walking. "It's so deserted."

"Well, if you were a blood-thirsty Daedra I'm sure you wouldn't be in here either," Ice's annoyance showed. Crow frowned, but said nothing.

"Maybe they don't have stairs because they have wings." Ice's train of thought had suddenly come to a halt just like his feet. Crow, too, stopped.

They had some to the end of the hall where a door, a bit bigger than the others and made of metal, stood. It gleamed a light silver color.

"This has to be it," Ice opened it before Crow could protest.

Inside was a room filled with weapons neither of them had seen before. A mace the size of a crate lied on the floor. A shimmering shield leaned on it with the design of a screaming face. But neither of these things interested Ice.

He stared, instead, at a long sword glittering and shimmering red and orange. It rested on a horizontal stand of the opposite wall of the door and looked a little Akavari.

"Now that's more doable," Ice took it by its hilt. "Do you know what it's called?"

"That's Goldbrand," Crow looked surprised. "It's an ancient sword with great firepower. I've seen it in Morrowind once. Some mage was trying to convert it to something called Eltonbrand, which was supposed to be powerful. I guess it didn't work." He took it gently from Ice. "It's dangerous, but it just might work."

"I think we should take something else; there's no way Martin's using that to make a portal," Ice took the only thing he could carry. "Welcome Screaming Shield."

* * *

Nightshade panted and leaned on a rock near the edge of a lava pit. Ruma was behind her, laughing at her. She winced because of her bleeding shoulder and leg, which both were hit twice.

But this whole battle was puzzling Nightshade. Many times Ruma could've killed her right there, but she never took the opportunity, and sometimes it seemed like she missed on purpose. What was she doing? Why wasn't she coming for her? Why was she just _laughing_?

She couldn't go on. The loss of blood was getting to her head. She wished Elyon was here to heal her. She made a mental note that if she somehow got out alive, she'd ask Elyon to teach her some healing spells.

Nightshade's firepower, however, was becoming rather powerful. She had burned Ruma's face and stomach, but Ruma knew healing spells that could compete with Elyon's.

"Come on, little girl, I know what you have inside you. Come on, summon those powers."

"What powers?" she yelled back.

"Don't play stupid. You've got powers. Or maybe you're just a weakling. I bet a just hatched slaughterfish could kill you," she laughed. "Without your friends you're nothing."

"At least I have friends," she retorted. Ruma laughed again.

"You're a sniveling coward. You couldn't even kill that Owyn when he was down. Owyn was such a good father-figure, wasn't he? You didn't even learn to fight like him. But you're just as bad."

At this anger flowed through Nightshade.

"Yes, how many creatures have you killed? How many deaths did you witness and yet you felt no pity for? That's the Owyn in you; no, that's the evil you were born with."

"I am not evil!" she shot out from behind her rock and hit Ruma with the largest one-hand fireball she ever made. It hit her, square at her heart, and the force caused her to fall back on the ground.

A trail of blood followed Nightshade as she charged at Ruma and put a blade to her throat. Ruma made no attempt to flee; in fact, she hardly moved. And she _laughed_.

This act enraged her. "What can you possibly have to laugh about?"

"You're going to kill me. You are a monster, just like me, just like Owyn."

"_Take it back!_" she held the blade closer to her neck, a small drop of blood appeared.

She tried to shake her head. "How can I if this act is proving me true?"

The crowd was chanting, "Slit her throat! Slit her throat!" Nightshade was suddenly thinking about that day in the Imperial City, where Ice had snapped her out of her trance. What was wrong with her? She was no killer.

She took the blade away from Ruma's neck. She, however, sneered. "You're a coward."

"No, you're not worth killing. I still win."

"I never called forfeit," the turn was so sudden Nightshade didn't have a chance to think. Ruma had her in a similar head-lock that Nightshade had her in, except she was standing up, and the Sunderblade fell to the ground. She grinned. "I thought you'd be much more powerful, but I was wrong. You're nothing but a scared little girl." She held her tighter. "Everyone is worth killing, Nightshade; it just takes the right person to see that. If I kill you right now, I will make sure all of your pathetic friends die too, and then burn down Cloud Ruler Temple with all those soldiers, and then make sure Martin suffers so he'll plead for death."

"No!"

A ball of fire consumed both Ruma and Nightshade. Ruma was thrown back, but Nightshade was pumping with adrenaline. She no longer felt pain as she turned around, picked up her sword, and stabbed her in the stomach.

The crowd was louder than ever, but neither of them noticed. Ruma smiled. "You are evil after all. I have completed my purpose. Paradise awaits me." Blood overtook her mouth and dripped over her lips and chin, and then she moved no more.

Pain ceased Nightshade everywhere, and everything went black.

* * *

"I can't believe you."

"Hey, at least we found two Daedric artifacts."

Nightshade's head pounded. Her leg felt numb and her shoulder was on fire. Her throat felt clogged and her eyes protested opening, but they obeyed after a few seconds.

Ice was at the foot of her bed with Elyon, both looking angry again. Crow sat on his bed across from them, reading, and Martin sat next to Nightshade in a chair with a shield with an ugly face. Only he noticed her stir.

"Hi, are you feeling alright?"

"What happened?"

"It was… weird. You killed Ruma with an injured shoulder and leg. It was quite a miracle, actually, but it seemed like you weren't injured at all when you did it. Then you just fell."

"I _killed _her?" her voice was raspy as the memories came back. "She said she'd make you she killed everyone."

"Well, it looked like you lost control. But one of you would've died anyway; I doubt Ruma would've let you go alive."

With difficulty she pushed herself up and sat upright. Her shoulder was in a sling.

"Oh, Nightshade, thank goodness you're awake." Elyon ignored Ice's last comment and rushed to her side. "You were bleeding pretty badly out there. I'm surprised you even survived. But I'm glad," she beamed. "Your arm and leg will heal, don't worry, in about a day or two, perhaps overnight, but there will be pain, so I suggest you stay in bed. No more fighting for you."

"Who's fighting now?"

"Black Night and the Khajiit."

"Where did that come from?" she pointed to the shield.

"Ice and Crow found it while looking for something to kill Boethia with."

"And we found our ultimate weapon," Ice bounded over. He held a gold sword with a slight Akavari style and the reddish-gold tint of fire. It was the most beautiful weapon Nightshade had ever seen.

"It's called Goldbrand," Elyon looked at it with disgust.

"Wow…" Nightshade touched it with her good arm. Her skin tingled at the blade with warmth.

"Careful. Jauffre said no handling Daedric stuff, remember?" Ice teased her. "We took the shield for Martin to use for the portal."

"So now all we need to do is get out of here."

"Yeah, but the only way out is to win, and I doubt Boethia will let us leave with his stuff." Martin thought. "What happened to Farwil?"

No one knew because none of them had been watching that fight. So they looked for the Nord that had been fighting him: Yarjok Sjord.

Elyon, being friendly, went to go and ask him. They talked for a few minutes and she came back.

"Well?" Ice asked.

"He said that Farwil was teleported back through a similar portal we used to get in. He also said Farwil was unconscious at the time."

"We should make a portal out of here," Martin thought aloud. Crow, who was listening, frowned. "Oh yeah, and then what? Do you think he'll just forget the whole matter and let us go?" He snorted. "We should just stay here and fight our way out."

"I don't know. Don't you think he'll notice his stuff is gone either way?" Nightshade sighed. "There's only one way."

"What?" Ice sneered.

"Ask him if we can take it."

"Are you mad? He'll skin us alive."

"Well, I'll ask if I can take it."

"It's worth a shot," Crow got up. "I'll come with you."

"No, she's staying in bed," Elyon retorted. He frowned, but Martin got up. "I'll go instead."

Crow nodded and they both left, leaving Ice, Nightshade, and Elyon alone. But Nightshade noticed that Ashen waved, his bunk nearest to the door, and only Martin returned the gesture. Crow instead looked as if he didn't see him and kept his head down. This puzzled her, so she asked Elyon about it.

"You remember how I told you Crow's love died? Well, he's the father of her and Lyze's husband. But don't tell anyone; only Mages Guild and Thieves Guild members know that, and Crow."

"Oh. But why is he avoiding him?"

At this she frowned. "Ashen and Lyze never knew him. Every letter Sayura sent them was destroyed before they reached the mainland. They never knew she was in love."

A strange silence hung in the room. Even Ice didn't say anything. But Elyon broke it. "Well, I'll leave you to rest."

"Wait, Elyon."

"Yes?"

"Can you teach me some healing spells when this is all over?"

"Sure."

* * *

Nightshade awoke to hear footsteps come down the stairs leading to the stadium. She hadn't been asleep long.

"So, what did he say?" Ice had been sitting in the chair next to Nightshade. Practicing his spells.

"Well, your plan to kill Boethia with the Goldbrand has been thwarted. He took both of the artifacts, but they're the prize for the winner now," Martin sat on Nightshade's bed. "He mentioned that after S'rasha and Black Night are done fighting, there will be no more one-on-ones."

"Geese, he changes his mind a lot," Ice interrupted.

"I can't believe they're still fighting," Elyon's stomach growled. "Well, I hope we have dinner before that."

"No, no dinner," Martin sighed. And then the announcer's voice came into the room.

"Every mortal left is to report to the stadium right now."

With groans they all got up and walked, or in Nightshade's case, wobbled, to the stadium. Elyon shook her head. "You can't fight like this."

"I thought healing potions were supposed to work fast," she complained.

* * *

Black Night was already standing out there, blood on her face and armor. She turned to see them come through.

"Did you kill him?" Elyon asked. She shook her head. "He forfeited at the last minute."

"Now, for the blood-thirsty brawl, folks. We know we said one-on-ones before, but Boethia has changed his mind! The last person standing in this brawl is the winner and will receive the prizes!" A loud cheer erupted. "Let the brawl begin!"

Dalkai Laneth was the first to attack Nightshade, taking advantage of her wounds. Nightshade brandished her sword in a block Crow had taught her. Black Night attacked the closest person, which was Elyon, and Yarjok was in battle with Ashen, who seemed to be enjoying himself. This left Crow, Ice, and Martin in a confused three-way battle, until Martin said, "Wait, why don't we help everyone else?"

Ice went to help Ashen while Crow went to Elyon. Martin helped Nightshade. Boethia didn't say anything; he didn't care; that was war.

Dalkai was the first to forfeit when Martin cornered her near a pit of lava. She instantly disappeared.

Black Night and Yarjok teamed up, causing Ice to be next; he had a scratch below his eye that was bleeding. But they, too, forfeited, which left Ashen to fight Crow and Elyon with Nightshade and Martin.

"This is just like playing war when you're a kid," Elyon was having fun dodging blades and spells. Crow got Martin, who was having fun too. No one was really trying to hurt the other now.

Ashen was next to leave by Elyon, which left Nightshade who was too tired to go on. She hadn't really been fighting anyway.

And then she was back at the shrine, lying flat on her back. She opened her eyes and turned to see Ice wake up too.

"That was awesome," he breathed, and then just lied there.

She turned and saw Elyon get up and heal herself, a small smile on her face. "That was good practice, but Boethia didn't sound very happy when we weren't really fighting anymore. I guess we're immune to each other."

Crow, too, stood up, and in his hands were the Goldbrand and the Screaming Shield. "We should head back to Cloud Ruler Temple now. Does anyone want this?"

"I do!"

Nightshade, now miraculously fully healed, took the Goldbrand from him, a look of pure wonder in her eyes. He smiled. "I had a feeling you would. I like the sword I have now."

"I only work with my hands," Elyon said. "Ice, get up, let's go."

All of them were fully healed, even Ice, and Nightshade could've sworn it was just a dream if they didn't have those artifacts. And she forgot all about Ruma and her death as they walked back with a happy Richu and Silver, and forgot there was a crisis afoot. No, now it was just her and her friends walking home.


	18. Chapter 18: The Gate of the Dremora

Chapter 18: The Gate of the Dremora

There was only one word for it: hell.

The day had started well. They had camped in the middle of the Heartlands a few hours after dark. They told stories of monsters, beasts, compassion, and humor. Nightshade had good dreams despite the adventure in Boethia's realm. It seemed the experience had the opposite affect on them than it should've. It was almost like she was immune now.

But it had ended abruptly at ten o'clock. They had hiked and reached Cloud Ruler Temple only to find a frenzy of guards and horses going in and out. It confused them until they looked the opposite way down the mountain, and it was clear.

In the distance, right next to the Bruma east gate, was a ball of fire with embers shooting out. It was hard to distinguish because of the settling mist over the mountain, but it was there. And Nightshade felt a feeling of dread. The memory of those doors down that hallway returned to her.

"Jauffre, Jauffre, where's Jauffre?" Elyon was elbowing her way through rushing, frantic people, none who answered her question. With difficulty, they made it into the Main Hall, where amidst the frenzy Jauffre, Baurus, and Martin stood, looking annoyed and angry.

"I must insist you move at once, Martin. It's not safe anymore. They'll find you."

Martin frowned. "Why should they get me? There are guards, you, Baurus, and I'm not completely defenseless, you know. I've been practicing. Plus, I can't leave. All the diagrams and signs are here. The Mythic Dawn can't get them."

"But—"

""The Emperor has spoken, Jauffre. We just need to close the gate and secure our defenses," Baurus seemed to be enjoying Jauffre's weakness.

Jauffre sighed exasperatingly. "Fine—ah, you've returned!" He noticed the four of them behind Martin and Baurus, who turned around. Martin grinned, for Nightshade had two swords on her belt and Crow held the Screaming Shield. Richu whimpered at that moment and fled into the East Wing, where the door was ajar.

"Ha, I told you I wasn't mad! It really did happen! You owe me fifty septums!" Martin laughed at Baurus, who was looking at the shield with a slight frown. "So, I'll be taking that."

"Why is everyone running around like chickens without heads?" Elyon's simile made Baurus grin. "There's the Oblivion Gate down the mountain near Bruma. People are being sent down the mountain and back for assistance. And some of them have gone crazy."

Jauffre regained some authority. "You have to tell them how to close the gate, Nightshade, or more Daedra will come and kill the whole city."

"So, we don't actually have to go in there," Ice's voice was mirroring Nightshade's thoughts. None of them really wanted to go back in one of those gates.

He shook his head. "Only if it's really necessary. And you stay _right here_." He addressed Martin, who sulked. "Baurus, make sure he follows my orders. Good luck. Oh, and take one of the horses for quicker travel." Jauffre walked out, yelling at someone to stop shouting, "It's the end of the world!"

"Ok, I don't think this is a good idea, but I'll follow you people anyway," Ice followed them into the stable with Martin and Baurus.

"Okay," Baurus looked at them. "I recommend a white or black horse, but chestnut or bay should be okay."

There were only two horses left besides Silver, who was oblivious to the ruckus. Elyon mounted her while Crow took a Chestnut. The largest horse, a black stallion, fit both Ice and Nightshade on his back. "This feels wrong," she frowned as Ice sat in front of her.

By the time they reached Bruma, three bodies of guards had fallen, smoke was everywhere, and there were worse things than scamps running around. There was a frightful spider-like Daedra with even smaller henchmen scurrying around the horses' feet. Crow, armed with a bow, shot it several times and the smaller ones disappeared. A reptile attacked Elyon, but Silver fought it off.

They all dismounted and sent their horses back. And Nightshade almost ran into the silver armor of a guard.

"Hey, we know you," Ice pointed to him, and Nightshade instantly remembered Yarjok Sjord from Boethia's realm. He blinked; his helmet was off so his blond hair covered his eyes. He looked surprised. "The Hero of Kvatch?"

"Hero_es _of Kvatch," Ice scowled.

"Yes. Do you remember us?" Nightshade asked as he nodded. "It's hard to forget."

"Where's the Guard Captain?" Elyon's concern showed in her voice. Yarjok, however, shrugged, his deep voice rumbled, "No one's seen him. Everyone's sure he ran for the mountains."

"Great," Nightshade watched a guard scream like a little girl as a hideous creature on two legs and claws. "Everything's in chaos."

"Look, guardie, why don't we just tell you how to close this hellhole, alright? You step into the swirling vortex of doom, and when you feel woozy you know you're there. Then, look for a way into the tallest tower with the big fire beam coming out of it. Then, climb to the top and take the Sigil Stone, a big ball of lava," Ice explained. Yarjok looked confused and blinked again.

"I think we're going to have to go back in," Crow sighed. "If we show you, can you tell the other guards how to close it?"

Yarjok nodded. "I hope there will be other guards left when we come back."

They wandered in the smoke for a while, following the strong, orange glow of fire, until they reached a portal much like the one in Kvatch. Nightshade's memories of the gate there seemed like a peaceful meadow than what was going on here. In fact, she hardly remembered any Daedra at all in the other one. Now, there were dozens of them chasing people, coming out of the gate four or five at a time even couple of seconds.

"How are we going to get past them?" Yarjok asked. Ice answered, "Well, first, they can smell fear on a person, so be brave."

"Ok, now!" Elyon ran to the gate immediately after a pair of green creatures came out. Single file, they jumped through the portal like crazy. Nightshade's eyes were closed, and she felt immediately grateful when she could feel the ground beneath her feet. However, her minute happiness ended when she opened her eyes.

They were surrounded by ferocious-looking beings in black and red armor, their helmets obscuring their faces with dangerous expressions. Each held a weapon in their black hands. "What are they?" she whispered to Elyon.

"Dremora, servants of Mehrunes Dagon: very human-like in appearance but more Dagon-like in nature. They have established clans that are ranked by power. In short, you don't want to mess with them."

A large Dremora pointed at them and started to speak in a harsh, raspy, voice: "Kill the intruders and give their bones to the Daedroths!"

She looked with fear at the others, who were cringing. However, she didn't have time to ask why, for the Dremora had started to move. Individual fights broke out. Crow took on a Dremora he called a Kynval. Claymore clashed with claymore as they blocked each others moves. Elyon took on two Caitiffs (they called each other that) and Ice and Yarjok were dealing with the weaker Churls. The only one left was the leader, who spied her just standing there. "You!" he said, and she turned, her hand to her new Goldbrand's hilt. "You have defied Boethia and killed the woman. I know who you are, for your name is after the poisonous flower."

"How—how do you know who I am?" she looked with both wonder and fear. He chuckled. "Every Kynaz knows who you are. The petty humans marvel at your weak feats and yet know nothing about your best ones. To them you are the false hope that Lord Dagon will not succeed, but he will."

"As long as the Blades live Dagon will be stopped," she spat, bravery entering her like a warm flame. The Dremora seemed awfully amused. "The Blades will die with every other human that gets in our way. The age of human beings ruling the world is over. It is time for the Daedra to take back what is rightfully theirs."

"The Nine Divines will never allow it!"

"The Nine Divines are false idols; they do not exist; only petty human faith and hope does. The Divines were human once, nothing but petty human souls! The Daedra are true gods! And I cannot believe you, of all humans, believe in them!"

"Shut up!" Nightshade took her sword and swung with power at him. He blocked with a shield and unsheathed his own sword. "Do you honestly think you can defeat me, a Kynreeve?"

"I don't care what you are; you're going down!"

Power and adrenaline flowed through her veins as she fought. Something inside her head told her to let the power take over, just let the power finish this Dremora.

She suddenly hesitated. What was she doing? What was this power? The last time she used it she killed Ruma and fainted. The time before that she almost killed Owyn and Ice. This power was evil, not good. This power wasn't her. Killing couldn't solve anything, could it?

Her moment caused her to trip over her own feet. The Kynreeve took his advantage and pointed his sword to her throat. "You are a weak dunmer. You will not let yourself reach your full potential. I think the Lord will be pleased when I take your body to him."

She watched as Crow, twirling like a dancer, swung his sword into his stomach, through his armor. The tip went straight through, blood dripping from it. The Kynreeve looked confused, and then grinned slightly, blood rising into his mouth, and he fell forward, whereas Nightshade scrambled backwards so he wouldn't land on her. Fear had returned in the place of her bravery, or was that bravery the power?

"Thanks," she got up, shaking. The other Dremora were all dead, their bodies scattered around the area. Everyone was alive. Elyon was tending to Yarjok and Ice's wounds. Crow himself had a large cut through his right-robe sleeve that was stained even darker with blood. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. You?"

"I—I think so," she brushed her armor off of red dust. "So any ideas as to what's next?"

Ice flinched as he got up, his limp and bloody arm slowly healing itself where a Churl had smashed his mace. "What was that whole thing about?" He was addressing Nightshade, who was bewildered. "What do you mean?"

"You were talking to that Dremora. You understood what it was saying!"

"Yeah? So? Didn't you?"

Oh no. This was like the whole symbols thing in the _Mysterium Xarxes_. More proof that she wasn't normal. She was the only one that could talk to Dremora now. Great.

"Just forget it," Elyon wiped blood off her face where a mace had grazed her cheek. She looked around at the surrounding area.

Yes, this looked so familiar with the stench of rot and dirt and heat. Lava bubbled along dark banks. But it was different as well. Only one, huge, tall tower stood on the isle, and of course it happened to be across a moat of lava.

Yarjok looked amazed and fearful. "We go in there?" Solemnly, they nodded in unison.

They started their trek in search of a way across, or at least a door on the tower, and soon Nightshade felt dizzy. There was no door, just Daedra to kill near it. "This doesn't make any sense. How are we supposed to get in?"

The Nord looked at her. "How'd you do it last time?"

"We crossed bridges from other towers, but there are none here," Ice bit his lip. "We could try crossing the lava really quickly."

"That's suicide," Nightshade scolded. And then Crow softly cleared his throat, causing them all to look at him.

It was odd to Nightshade how calm Crow was in this hell. He just stood there, maybe thinking the whole time they were talking. He was under control, or did he feel nothing? "You said you crossed bridges, right? Describe them."

"Well, they were thin and dangerous and you couldn't look down or you'd fall," Ice had pretty much summed it up.

"So they were in the air? Maybe our bridge is not in front of us or above us but perhaps _below _us."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean maybe there's a tunnel under the lava."

"That's brilliant!" Elyon clapped her hands. "But how would we get under there?"

* * *

After thirty minutes of searching under every rock, Ice found a large, encrypted door behind a large boulder and a scamp much bigger than the ones before. They entered into a cavern-like cave with holes bringing in light and an odd, red mist. It seemed abnormally claustrophobic.

Silence surrounded them as they wandered around the caverns and fell through holes; they encountered several beasts of different kinds by this fashion. It was when they were almost out did Nightshade speak.

"Elyon, when you went through puberty, did you ever feel like… er… powerful and strong and like something else was controlling you?"

The question made the boys suddenly start a conversation of their own. "So, Crow, do you think Martin will make a good emperor?"

Elyon looked at Nightshade strangely. "No. I felt the complete opposite. Why?"

"Just wondering…"

She looked at the males and overheard Ice say, "That's none of your business!" to Yarjok, who backed off. "Perhaps we should talk after we close the gate."

Crow found a door at that moment, but it was Ice who charged for it first. And Nightshade muttered, "If we close the gate."

* * *

"Ha, I knew it would work," Crow congratulated himself on his brainwork.

Yarjok looked up at the tower that loomed above them. "So, we have to go to the top of that thing?"

"Yep," Ice patted him on the back, "loads of fun."

"Come on, the sooner we start the sooner we get it done." Nightshade walked past them and immediately got spotted by a reptile-like creature called a Clannfear. She dodged its claws and slashed her sword at its belly. It missed.

"Should we be helping?" Ice looked at Crow, who shook his head, and Elyon, who looked worried. "She needs to do this."

The Clannfear hissed and took a step back while Nightshade feebly thrust her sword forward. It slashed with both claws and got her on her arm. She retreated a little, so it took its opportunity. It pounced and landed on her while ripping at her armor. With pain, she lifted her sword and tried to decapitate it. Instead, it resulted in lots of blood in her face and only about a fourth of its neck slashed off. It withdrew and began to bleed to death.

"I see we actually taught you something," Crow beamed at his apprentice. "You'll get better."

She watched it in agony as the others walked past her and into the tower. That could've been her. That still could be her.

In fear, Nightshade turned to follow her comrades, but she collapsed with a tang of pain on the back of her head.

* * *

"Caitiff Lixili, the dunmer is waking. I can feel it."

"Yes, Kynmarcher."

Wow, what a pain. Her head throbbed as Nightshade opened her eyes. She couldn't move; a spell could've been the cause. She was on the floor on her side, so she could see two pairs of black armored feet. One pair just stood there, pointed at her, and the other was walking towards her. The Caitiff Lixili grabbed her armor by the back of the collar and hoisted her to her knees, where she could see the Dremora Kynmarcher smirking slightly on his black face. "Welcome, Nightshade. I'm sorry it's not a bit more hospitable, but it's not meant to be pleasant."

She tried to talk, but her jaw wouldn't move. This made the Dremora smirk more. "You're so pitiful and helpless. Do you think I'm stupid enough to let you even talk?"

She looked at him, her eyes the only thing that seemed to be able to move. He looked like the Kynreeve except more muscular and with more armor. But what interested her most was the shooting beam of fire behind him going up and out of the Citadel and the Sigil Stone floating above the pedestal. All she had to do was get it and this nightmare would be over. The problem was how.

"So, Nightshade, allow me to introduce myself. I am Kynmarcher Eclixirz, lord of this Citadel. I've been ordered to prevent you from ruining our destruction. Your friends are no match for my army, so as long as you're under my paralyzing spell we're ok. After this I'll take you back to the mainland and present you as my prisoner. I'll probably be promoted for this." He stood proudly, and Nightshade didn't have to see Lixili to know he was rolling his eyes. "Kynmarcher, can I go now? I want to fight, not baby-sit prisoners." His voice was much raspier than the Kynmarcher's.

"No, Caitiff. Watch her and make sure nothing happens to her. I want to see the humans get chopped up when they reach the top."

"But how can she do anything being silenced and paralyzed?"

"Stop complaining."

Nightshade began to feel something besides her head. Her toes and fingers were slowly gaining feeling. Her jaw was thawing at a much faster pace, but she didn't show it. The Kynmarcher wasn't paying attention; he was watching as Crow came into the room and looked around. Swiftly, he was attacked, and soon the small platoon of about ten or fifteen Dremora was overwhelming him.

Kynmarcher Eclixirz grinned with amusement. "Clobber him!"

Nightshade's eyes opened wide. Crow couldn't die!

And then there was a whooshing sound followed by bodies being smacked against the walls of the Citadel. Crow had used a defensive spell causing air to blast from himself and into a sort of bubble around him. The Dremora were gusted around, confused and some hurt from impacts. Elyon, Ice, and Yarjok came out that moment with a war-cry Nightshade had never heard before.

Eclixirz's smirk abruptly changed into a snarl. "Caitiff, forget her and get in there!"

"It's Lixili," he frowned but followed his superior's orders. He ran down the odd, flesh-like ramp and into the battle.

By that time Nightshade could feel her forearms and legs and could move her fingers. She could feel the power, the magic, slowly warm her arms with fire without the use of words. Still, she couldn't stand yet so she did nothing.

Yarjok slashed his way up the ramp with a silver axe and stared at the Kynmarcher. "So, you are the humans that killed my best Kynreeve?" He unsheathed his claymore that was strapped on his back. It shined a soft blue.

As they fought, Nightshade began to move around by clawing at the ground and inching slowly forward like a lion stalking prey. Her legs didn't quite work yet, but she tried her best in getting her sword just in case.

Yarjok and Eclixirz clashed several times before the Kynmarcher twisted the Nord's axe out of his hand and onto the floor. He held the blade to the young guard's throat. "Any last words?"

Nightshade was now close enough. She swung her arm as high as she could at the Dremora's legs. He screamed as Yarjok dived for his axe and quickly took it to his throat. Nightshade moved her jaw before she said in a slurred voice, "He doesn't understand a word you're saying."

"Heh, you cannot escape Mehrunes Dagon's wrath! You will all die in vain! It's point—"

His throat was gushing blood before he could finish.

"Is everything ok up here?" Elyon, Crow, and Ice rushed up the ramp. Elyon helped her up. "I… I can't really feel my legs very well, but I think I'll be ok." Nightshade leaned on her. "Yarjok… take the stone."

He turned and looked at the Sigil Stone, its lava glowing immensely. He reached out and slowly touched it. He recoiled. "I can't; it's too hot."

"You have to. If you don't now you'll never be able to close future gates!"

He looked doubtfully at her. "Ok…"

He reached out, and this time he grabbed it and held on as the world went spinning.

* * *

_A Word from Haunt: Crow's spell happens to be from a different game called _Fate_, which neither Bethesda or I own the rights to. However, it's still an awesome game, just not as awesome as the Elder Scrolls, which beats every game (except maybe Pokemon, or they're tied)._

_Oh, don't forget about these Dremora. They'll be back._


	19. Chapter 19: The Bandit King

Chapter 19:The Bandit King

"I don't believe it!"

Jauffre slammed his fist on the round table in the library, causing Nightshade to flinch as she stood there. Ice, Baurus, and Martin were also in the room, sitting down.

Nightshade thought Jauffre would be happy to hear that the Oblivion gate was closed and would greet them with open arms. But, to her dismay, it wasn't so.

"How could you let that guard take the stone? It's your job to do it, not his!"

"How was I supposed to know he'd get second degree burns?" she murmured.

"Don't let it happen again!" he fumed for a few more seconds before sitting on a different table, facing them. Baurus cleared his throat. "Those Daedra will be back, and next time it will be worse. Bruma doesn't have enough men to protect the city."

Jauffre nodded. "We'll need help from the other cities. I've thought this through. I sent Achilles over to Chorrol a few hours ago. I heard Black Night took care of the gate there with the help of the Mages Guild. A similar accident happened over there, but I think they'll agree to help us."

"That's good."

"Now, you two and Crow and Elyon need to go to the other cities for some allies and bide us some time. Maybe with you running all over Cyrodiil the Mythic Dawn will get confused." Jauffre got up. "I suggest you take the road to Chorrol and go west to Skingrad first." He left without another word.

"Jeese, what's his problem?" Ice frowned and looked at the cluttered table where Martin had been studying _Mysterium Xarxes_. "So a guard got a little burned."

"That wasn't a little," Baurus shook his head. "You should've seen his hands. If it wasn't for Elyon and her healing spells I don't think his hands would've made it."

He rolled his eyes, but said no more. Martin frowned. "Skingrad? I hear the count is rarely seen at all there."

"We were just there, right? It didn't seem like a bad place," Nightshade decided not to mention the attempt on her life and the very odd party; she'd never go to a party ever again.

"That's true," he looked down at _Mysterium Xarxes_. "My suggestion is that you go to the Imperial City and ask Chancellor Ocato for help first. Good luck."

* * *

"Why do we always have to come back here?" Nightshade sighed as she looked down the mountain to see the white tower not so far away. "How long now?"

"An hour or so. But I don't think we should go in there right now," Crow sat down on a log. "I say we camp out. Who agrees with me?"

"I do," Ice sat next to him and looked at Elyon and Nightshade. Elyon nodded. "I'm okay with it."

"I suppose so," the Dunmer girl took a piece of bread from Crow. "But do we have to sleep out in the wilderness?"

The sun cast one last shadow on a tree before disappearing over the mountains and letting the moon shine its eerie glow. Crow looked at this scene for a moment before answering, "No, no, I guess not."

Elyon looked bewildered. "Where would we sleep?"

There was silence for a moment as Crow cast a pink spell on himself. Crickets started to chirp in the long blades of grass. He gazed a little, and then he looked at them. "I hear voices in the distance, maybe a village or settlement. I'll go check it out."

"I'll go too," Elyon turned to the young ones. "We'll see if we can get a room or two."

"Bye," Ice was busy eating his bread.

Nightshade waved. "Good luck."

* * *

"They've been gone for an awful long time," Nightshade looked into the trees. She and Ice had retreated to a clearing near the road when someone hostile-looking passed by. They now sat facing each other on the grass and had been doing that for about fifteen minutes.

Ice was trying to create a fire with some twigs and stones without magic and was failing miserably. He scowled, half in frustration, half in agreement. "You'd think they'd be back by now."

Nightshade shivered. "Do you need help?"

"No!"

"Jeeze, I'm just trying to help."

"Well, I don't need it."

"Yeah, you're doing so well by yourself."

"Shut up!"

Even if Ice had meant it as a weak comeback, Nightshade followed the order for a sound of heavy footsteps and a torch light appeared. The two sprang up and got ready to fight; Nightshade took out her Goldbrand and Ice unsheathed his knives.

"H-hello?" The voice belonged to a scared Imperial man with a backpack. He pushed his way into the clearing, careless with his torch as it dangerously waved near the trees. He suddenly looked even more frightened when he saw them. "Oh, please, take my goods but don't hurt me! All my money is already gone! Have mercy!"

"Calm down, we're not going to hurt you," Ice and Nightshade simultaneously withdrew their weapons. "You scared us."

"You-you're not bandits?"

Nightshade looked puzzled. "No. What are bandits?"

"Bandits are bad people that steal money and kill people on the roads," Ice looked at himself. "Do we look like bandits?"

"No, I'm sorry," the man sat down and reached for something that wasn't there on his thigh. "Ugg, they took my flask of Tamika's wine too."

"They attacked you?" Nightshade looked concerned.

"Yep. They took all my money and my wife with them. They knocked me out and left me on the road. We were on our way to Bruma to sell some goods. I guess they didn't need them."

"Your wife, too? That's terrible!"

"You two look like adventurers. Please, if you save my wife you can have all the gold they took!"

"Where did they take her?"

"To the east. I know for a fact where some of them are. They should be south on the road."

"Wait up, we're helping him? What about Elyon and Crow and the Imperial City and my sleep?" Ice whined to her as though the man had no ears.

Nightshade shook her head. "I know this is just a hunch, but I have a feeling Crow didn't hear a village when he was listening to voices. I wouldn't be surprised if the bandits found them. And anyway, he needs our help."

"Thank you, thank you!" the man practically cried with joy. "Please hurry, though. I don't want anything horrible happening to my wife."

"I can't believe I let you drag me into these things," Ice muttered as they walked back to the path. Nightshade merely grinned slightly. "It's more fun than waiting for Crow and Elyon, isn't it? And you get a good adventure in."

"Whoo-hoo," he said sarcastically.

They passed the road on to the other side where Crow had heard the voices earlier. Shrubs and trees kept hitting them in their faces. After a few minutes of travel they could hear voices. Quietly, they crouched down and hid in the bushes.

"We're gonna be stinkin' rich," a skinny Redguard man chuckled. "Once that Ocato guy gets captured, we can retire stinkin' rich."

"Here, here!" a drunk bosmer woman lifted her tankard into the air as Nightshade peered through the leaves to see the bandits. Three bandits were sitting in front of a cave entrance in a circle. The bosmer was sitting right next to the Redguard while a Nord sat on the floor trying to light a fire with twigs much like Ice was, and he was having about as much success.

"This Bandit King must have a lot of inside people to know that Ocato is travelling to Bruma to make sure everything is alright." The Redguard talked to the Nord on the floor, who threw the twigs angrily to the ground. He nodded in agreement. "He's very smart. I mean, we must be rich already with all the people we've robbed and kidnapped."

"To the Bandit King!" the bosmer shouted, and they all said, "To the Bandit King!"

"Bandit King?" Ice whispered. "Since when have bandits ever been in order?"

"I don't know, but I don't like the looks of this." Nightshade retreated a little. "How are we supposed to get in?"

"Well, we have several options. We can try to sneak in, perhaps invisible, we can outright attack them, we can sneak attack them, or we can find a way to poison them. I vote sneak in."

"Yeah, I vote that too."

"Okay, I've been practicing on my invisibility spells and I think I've got the 'Make a Friend Invisible' down." He cracked his fingers. "If you turn purple it's not entirely my fault." Before Nightshade could protest, he recited an incantation and blasted some invisible force at her. She recoiled and then looked at her hands, praying they weren't purple. Instead, she didn't see them at all.

"See? It's okay," Ice muttered a similar chant and escaped Nightshade's view. "Now, hold my hand so we don't get separated. It should last for a while."

It felt odd to hold Ice's soft hand as they snuck by the bandits unnoticed. They were now talking about werewolves and if they were real or not and didn't even hear the squeak of the shabby door blocking the entrance.

Inside the cave was nothing to marvel at. The typical stalagmites and stalactites were scattered around the limestone ceiling and floor. They snuck past everyone who seemed to be celebrating in their own ways and not keeping an eye, or an ear, out for any intruders.

Ice and Nightshade went around in circles and kept switching the leadership and quietly whispering angry quarrels until they came into a big room. The room looked like it had been in a ruin once, for it had glowing marble stairs that dipped into the water below and back up onto an island with a marble canopy. Underneath it was a throne of sorts with a High Elf sitting and thinking on it. Near him were three bodies, two of which were lying on the floor and one that was sobbing uncontrollably in a corner.

"What do we do?" Ice murmured, but Nightshade interrupted. "I just realized where I had heard the name Ocato from."

"Where?"

"Martin mentioned it. He said he was a Chancellor."

"Well, that sounds important, so we better stop them in that too." He paused. "I can't believe I just said that."

"Oooo, Ice is turning into a good person," Nightshade taunted him. He ignored her. "First we need to get Crow and Elyon."

"I thought you weren't so sure they were here."

"They're right there," he pointed to the two bodies on the floor.

He was right. Elyon lied next to Crow in an odd manner. Both their hands were tied behind their backs and Crow had no weapon.

Nightshade suddenly gasped as Ice grabbed her by the mouth and pulled her into the shadows. "What was—?"

"Shhhh."

Behind her a dunmer woman would've ran into her if Ice hadn't have pulled her. They watched as she walked down into the water and then back up to the throne. The altmer looked up at her. "Any news?"

"No sign of Ocato yet, King. However, there were two kids seen crossing the road near here. They disappeared into the forest."

"Hmm, let's hope they turn up soon. They might have some good loot. What did they look like?"

"Dunmer boy and girl, around their teenage years. The boy wore a black robe and the girl had leather armor. The scout said she looked funny because she had black skin and red hair. He couldn't see their faces or weapons very well."

"Have someone go looking for them," the High Elf went back to meditating as the dunmer left. Nightshade and Ice watched him for a few seconds.

"We should go down there and free them," Nightshade began to go down the steps, but Ice said, "Wait. If we mess with anything the spell will start to degrade faster. And don't hurt anyone, or the spell will stop."

She nodded, and then realized he couldn't see her. "Okay."

Silently they walked down the stairs, careful not to splash too much in the water. The altmer didn't notice them even when Nightshade stepped loudly on the top step. He just continued to stare out into space, thinking.

Ice took out his knives and handed one to Nightshade. As quietly as they could, they maneuvered Crow and Elyon and tried to cut the ropes on their wrists.

The Imperial woman in the corner could hear them. Ice patted her shoulder, which only made her jerk backwards.

When Nightshade freed Crow, she turned to see the altmer asleep on the throne. "Psst, Ice, look."

"Hello?" Ice whispered loudly, but he didn't stir. "What luck."

"Yeah," Nightshade began to slap Crow. "Wake up, please wake up." She looked at her hand and gasped, for she could see it. "Ice, the spell—"

Ice was also visible next to Elyon. "Quick, wake them up!"

Before Nightshade could move a blast of lightning hit Ice on his side. He tumbled over and almost fell into the water. The High Elf was now awake, or was never asleep, and was standing up. "Well, well, you two must be the two dunmer she saw." Nightshade put her hand on the hilt of the Goldbrand, but he shot a spell of white and green. She was frozen in place.

"See, no one can sneak up on the Bandit King!" he laughed cruelly. "Your friends, I take it. And I also gather you're the Hero of Kvatch; you fit the description well." Ice groaned on the floor. "Oh, shut up," the King shot a spell of pink, and Ice's lips were sealed. "See, there are people willing to pay a lot of money for you, Hero."

"What about Ocato?" Nightshade sneered.

"Ocato? You must've overheard. Yes, the council will be very generous to us, and then we'll be rich." He chuckled a little. "And you won't stop me because he's being kidnapped as we speak."

The woman was slowly going towards Ice, who was now sitting up and trying to stop his wound from bleeding. She fingered his knife, the poisoned one he was using to free Elyon.

"So this is about only money?" Nightshade could see out of the corner of her eye what the woman was trying to do. The Bandit King couldn't.

"Yes, it is, little girl."

"And why wouldn't the guards stop you?"

"Because I have many bandits that are just as strong and stupid."

"Why would they help you?"

"They think I'm giving each of them a cut of the ransom money, but I'm escaping to Valenwood and taking it all with me!" He laughed again. "I'll be the emperor of all Tamriel with all that money!"

"Why would you want to be emperor?" The King was no longer facing them as the woman slowly got up and edged away.

"Why? I will have ultimate power! I will rule with an army! I will take over the whole world!"

The woman suddenly ran at him with such speed that he didn't have enough time to think. The blade of Ice's dagger slid across his neck, and the Bandit King fell, blood dripping down his fancy shirt. Nightshade looked very surprised as the spell wore off and she could feel her feet again. "I've met an emperor, and you couldn't be him ever." With shocked eyes he fell forward and lied on the floor.

"Wow, thanks," she looked at the woman. "You're pretty good at fighting. Why didn't you take him out sooner?"

"I didn't have a weapon, and I was silenced," she brushed her brown hair out of her eyes. "I'm Juliet. Thanks for coming when you did."

"No time for thanks," Ice was trying to get his blood circulating into his lips. "We have to wake these sleeping giants over here, get their weapons, get out of here, and stop them from kidnapping Ocato before we can convince him to send an army to Bruma."

"Leave that to me. I have an idea." Juliet rubbed her hands together and got a spark going. She muttered a soft spell and shocked Crow and Elyon awake. "There."

"Where are we?" Elyon looked around, rubbing her shoulder where it had been shocked. "I remember not seeing a village at all. What are you two doing here?"

"No time to explain," Nightshade helped them up. "We need to get out of here and stop the bandits from kidnapping Ocato before they discover their king is dead. And here, Crow, take my Goldbrand and use it until we can find your weapons."

"Thanks." He took it from her, rubbing his head. "Let's go."

"Wait, we need a plan," Ice looked slightly nervous. "We passed loads of bandits over there."

"So? We can take them. We took out all those Dremora in that gate." Crow seemed energetic as he swung the Goldbrand around. He then muttered some words and a skeleton appeared beside him.

"Alright, but no splitting up," Elyon ran out of the room, followed by everyone else. They slashed and bashed their way through, or everyone except weaponless Nightshade. She stayed behind and out of the way of everybody.

They got out with Crow's claymore and crossbow and ran like Mehrunes Dagon himself was running after them. They leaped over shrubs and dodged trees, and soon they had reached the road.

"Which way?" Juliet looked around and then saw her husband walking towards them from the north. "Juliet!" he shouted, and they hugged.

"Good, that's over with, and I just remembered we found no gold," Ice slapped his forehead.

"No time!" Nightshade grabbed him and they went running southward down a slope after Crow and Elyon. Crow tossed her sword to her and took out his own claymore.

After about a minute of running a High Elf and a small entourage of two on horses came into view. "Chancellor Ocato!" Nightshade shouted. "Watch out!"

Too late. Five bandits pounced out on them, knocking them down off their horses. They wrestled around, fighting, and by the time the four went down there the bandits had killed everyone and only one bandit remained with Ocato. Seeing them, he whirled around, grabbing the Chancellor by the neck and pointing a blade at his throat. "One step closer and he's dead!"

They stopped in their tracks.

"Good. Now, Chancellor, the Bandit King would like to see you."

"There's no point," Ice sneered. "He's dead."

"Hmph, then I'll kidnap you myself—"

Ocato suddenly twirled around, hitting him in his jaw, and muttered something. The bandit was paralyzed, and then he was killed with a swift frost spell.

"Wow," Nightshade was impressed.

"Thank you for your concern, travelers," he dusted himself off, "but I had the situation under control."

"We're here to talk to you about Bruma, sir," Elyon addressed him. "We need some defenses in case Mehrunes Dagon tries to attack us."

"Oh, you all must be working for the Blades. How is the future emperor, by the way?"

"He's fine, but the city isn't."

He snorted. "Well, I have a shortage of guards in the Imperial City and can't afford to send any there. What if He tries to attack us? No, I'm sorry, but I can't."

"Not even one?" Ice pleaded.

"No. Now good day," he mounted his horse and rode up the hill.

"I wonder where he's going," Elyon watched him disappear in the starry night.

Ice sighed. "Worst adventure ever."

* * *

_A Word from Haunt: Sorry it took so long. Summer school took up more time than I thought and some complications, like writer's block, occurred. But it's up now, so I hope you enjoyed it, if possible._


	20. Chapter 20: Clueless

Chapter 20: Clueless

_Nightshade had fallen asleep in the clearing they had been in before, but when she opened her eyes, she was somewhere different entirely. She recognized the place as an Oblivion tower, but she had never been exactly there before. It was a room with four pillars and a sort of shrine in the middle, along with two curved benches. She noticed that she wasn't actually in the room but was in a hallway right next to the doorway. And she heard raspy voices._

"_I can't believe Kynmarcher__ Eclixirz failed."She peered over the doorframe to see two Dremora, one in full body armor and the other in a blue robe. The robed one was eating something as his college spoke. "I can. I knew he was unreliable. He simply attacks without a strategy. He has no brains. I hope _He_ eats him alive."_

_The other snickered. "That will be very amusing to watch."_

"_If I was sent out there I would make my attacks sneaky. I agree with one thing that Eclixirz did, though."_

"_What?"_

"_He separated one of them. If there was a way to separate all of them, it would truly work."_

"_I like that idea," the one in blue finished eating. "How?"_

_The other shook his head. "I don't know."_

_Suddenly, the armored Dremora looked in Nightshade's direction, and she woke up.

* * *

_

Skingrad was exactly as Nightshade had left it except for the fact that there was a huge, flaming Oblivion gate right in front of the east entrance.

"Great," Ice's sarcasm reflected the group's tiredness and irritability that afternoon. They had trekked since sunrise and had to fight numerous imps on the way along with a bear and a bandit, where Nightshade showed her hatred for the people by saying, "If I ever meet another bandit I swear I will blow them up." She had forgotten her odd dream by then and hadn't told anyone about it.

"I hope we don't have to close that," Nightshade looked up at it. Ice snorted in displeasure. "Don't get your hopes up."

They went into the city, wondering where the castle was. Ice suddenly realized something. "Hey, where's Richu and Silver?"

"Back in Bruma. It's too dangerous here," Elyon spotted a guard. "Hey, where's the castle?"

"The castle is to the south, or just make a turn left and keep going until you reach a gate," she said. "You just came in, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Ice chimed in. "That's one big Oblivion gate in front of your gate."

A passerby carrying bags of food suddenly dropped all of it on the floor. "There's an Oblivion gate?!"

"No, no," the guard looked flustered, "he was just joking, weren't you?" She glared at him and he nodded. "Oh, yeah, I was."

"Don't joke about things like that," the passerby started to pick up all the food as the guard pulled them aside. "Don't talk about that," she hissed.

"Why not?" Elyon looked bewildered.

"Count Hassildor doesn't want everyone to panic. If word gets out there will be a mob of people storming out of here, and that isn't good."

"What about the people outside?"

"No one lives near the East Gate, and we've told people that the Gold Road is blocked."

"So, we'd better get going," Ice tugged at Elyon's sleeve like a little kid.

Nightshade raised an eyebrow. "What's the hurry?"

"It's just that I have a bad feeling about this."

* * *

They reached the castle in little under an hour and, instead of finding the count, they came face-to-face with an Argonian lady.

"Excuse us, but we're here to see Count Hassildor," Elyon put on her most cheery of smiles for the old, grumpy lady.

She merely snorted. "The Count will not see anyone and never has."

"But we're here from Jauffre about business against the Oblivion gates."

With this, the steward grinned. "I'll summon him right away."

They waited a while before she came back with Count Hassildor. Nightshade looked at him curiously. He looked—odd, like his face was too pale and his eyes—they were red. However, she didn't get a chance to say anything about it.

"Count Hassildor?" Elyon decided to take charge. "We're from the Blades and we need protection in Bruma if we stand a chance against Mehrunes Dagon in the future—"

"Out of the question," the count shook his head sternly. "I need all my men here to protect us from the Oblivion gate outside."

"But—"

"No 'buts'. That's my final word." The Count turned to leave and muttered something about sleep when Nightshade realized what she had to do. "Count Hassildor, sir, what if we got rid of it? Would you send troops then?"

He narrowed his eyes at her in thought. "Of course I would."

"And then can we start telling people that there is—or was—a gate?" Ice seemed perturbed about that.

The Imperial nodded. "But only until after you've closed it. People can be dangerous if they catch word about there being an Oblivion gate."

"Got it," Elyon grinned. "Then we'll just close the gate. Thanks for your time, Count."

He nodded and left back up the stairs where he had came, with his steward behind him. Nightshade watched him. "What a weird guy."

Elyon shrugged, and the four headed out towards the gate.

* * *

There were five guards, not including the guard captain, standing watch at the gate. They looked worried and shaken, but besides that they looked okay.

"No Daedra?" Ice looked up at a guard, who shook his head. "Hardly. Only one Daedroth and two Clannfears so far."

"Well, that's not too bad," Elyon's optimism was starting to get on Ice's nerves as they trudged up to the flaming gate. Crow went in first, followed by Nightshade. While she stepped onto the red, dusty ground, she didn't see Crow around at all. Confused, she turned, only to see a sea of lava consume a fallen tower instead of the gate back to Skingrad.

Great. She was separated from her friends again. This, of course, could only be the work of those Dremora in her dream. Now she wished she had told them about it.

Sighing in frustration, she unsheathed her Goldbrand and started to walk towards the towers in front of her. There were three towers this time, all set up in a triangle. Two loomed in front of her with three Dremora patrolling the entrance to one. She made another mental note to ask Ice to teach her an invisibility spell—if they got out alive.

She knew she was no match for three at once, and really not feeling up to fighting today, she decided to sneak by as silently as possible. Waiting for the right opportunity, Nightshade crouched down and quickly ran across without being seen. She pushed the door open and jumped through, noiselessly praying to no one in particular.

Inside, there were no Daedra at all in the tower. There was a torture pit in the middle of the floor, but this time there was no body stuck on a spike. There was no ramp leading upwards, either, but there were two doors, one to her left and another to her right. She chose the one on her right and opened it with a creaking sound. There was the ramp she was looking for, leading steeply upwards. Cautious and slow, Nightshade walked up, hoping there was nothing waiting for her at the top.

* * *

"Kynmarcher Hynkath, sir!" a Caitiff with a bloody wound to his cheek saluted the Dremora at the top of the citadel. The armored Kynmarcher was staring into the fiery beam shooting upwards into the sky. "Hmm?"

"Kynval Yukaxi has captured a human!"

Hynkath suddenly looked alert and interested. "What kind?"

"Male Elf, sir. Attacked us at the base of the Sorrow Keep."

"Of course he was no match for six Dremora?"

The Caitiff hesitated. "He killed the three watching the entrance by the time Yukaxi and his Kynaz noticed they were gone. He says he could've sworn he heard someone creeping around behind him."

He hissed a curse and snarled, "Why didn't he just kill the human?"

"He figures there are others on the island."

Hynkath exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself. "Good tactics, I suppose. Send them in."

* * *

Nightshade reached the top of the tower in thirty minutes after almost getting killed by three Dremora Churl scattered about the place. Luckily, Elyon had taught her a minor healing spell and continued using it on her shoulder where she had been wacked twice. It stung badly but that was the worst of her wounds.

At the top was a switch. The switch caused the cogs behind it to turn, and she could hear something distant rumble. Swiftly and stealthily she ran, eager to get out of there as soon as possible, and came across a black and yellow door. It led outside, where a narrow, rail-less bridge gradually extended to the citadel next door. She looked to her left where, across the lava, was the Main Citadel with the beam firing up into the molten sky. She withdrew, feeling a little woozy from the height, and tried to cross. Arms flailing, she practically ran across the bridge. She didn't remember much about the last time she had to cross a bridge like this, but she figured she didn't look down.

When Nightshade arrived to the second citadel, she opened the door, keeping her balance, swung inside, and almost ran into something fleshy. Acting on instincts, she slashed her blade to realize she had almost hit the Wood Elf in front of her.

"Elyon!" Nightshade hugged her tightly. "I can't believe we were separated _again_."

"Thank the Nine you're all right," Elyon patted her on the head. "This place is creepy enough with everyone here, but when you're alone, it's just plain scary."

Nightshade looked up at her. "What do you mean? Isn't Crow and Ice with you?"

"I'm afraid not. It seems we are all separated. I came up this tower, hoping to find something, and then I heard something hit the tower."

"Yeah, I extended a bridge over here from the other tower using a switch on the top. There aren't that many Dremora around like the last time."

Elyon shook her head. "I've ran into a Churl and Kynval; I think they're all in the Main Citadel."

"Have any idea how to get there?"

Elyon thought for a moment. "Well, I suppose there are more bridges that extend across the lava. I haven't gone to the top of the tower yet. I bet there's another switch."

The two proceeded to climbing higher into the tower and only ran into a reptile-like creature that blew fire at them that Elyon called a Daedroth.

At the top, she was right. Another switch was attached to the wall with many cogs behind it, so when Nightshade pulled it down, the tower rumbled slightly. They made their way down again and found a door that led outside, across the lava. It looked so much longer and much more dangerous than the last bridge that Nightshade almost felt like fainting and throwing up at the same time. "Just don't think about it," Elyon instructed as they balanced for their lives. "Where do you think the boys are?"

"Hopefully safe," Nightshade shouted back, but doubt crept into her voice.

She heard the doubt. "Don't worry; they can take care of themselves. With any luck they found each other like we did."

Finally, the dunmer grabbed the door, ready to open it, when Elyon shouted "Wait!" She turned to see her lean on the wall, gripping to the large, vertical grooves engraved on it. "There might be loads of Daedra in there. We should be cautious."

Slowly, she opened the door, ready to punch a Dremora in the face. And she did. A Kynreeve received a hard blow in the face, causing him to reel backwards in pain and shock. Elyon didn't stop there. She continued to punch him violently until he couldn't move.

Nightshade watched, both in fascination and horror. "I didn't realize you were so…strong…"

"It is okay, Nightshade," Elyon tried comforting her, "Dremora can't die. Once they leave this world they go back to Mehrunes Dagon. Plus, they're made for fighting, so it's okay."

Not entirely convinced, Nightshade still nodded, and took out her Goldbrand. "Let's go."

* * *

"Anything out of the human yet?" Kynmarcher Hyncath impatiently asked his subordinate Caitiff. He shook his head. "Kynval Yukaxi complains that it is hard to get anything out of him because he cannot understand our language. What do you suggest he do, sir?"

He sighed frustratingly. "I don't know. Tell him to use his imagination. Draw pictures if he has to. And after you send that, go down to the Kynreeve in charge of the Brooding Fortress. He should be just below us."

"Ah, about that…."

"What?"

"A Churl came up and said how the bridges connecting the citadels are all out, sir."

"_What?! _And you neglect to tell me this earlier?!"

The Caitiff winced. "Well, you had me running between here and Kynval—"

"Kynval Yukaxi is nothing compared to this news! Alert the Kyn outside and tell Yukaxi to come here with the human. And Caitiff?"

"Yes?"

"You are very lucky that I don't hack your head off right now."

"Thank you, sir."

* * *

Ice muttered a curse under his breath as he hid behind a bolder facing the open lava sea.

The young dunmer had been wandering around, having been deposited on a south-eastern strip of land unconnected to the citadels across the lava. He could see the bridges slowly connect the triangle of towers and was trying to figure out a way across the lava without being burned to a crisp when a Dremora appeared out of nowhere. Bewildered, he had hid behind the bolder, hoping not to get caught.

The Dremora hissed something in its tongue, perhaps some sort insult. It looked powerful with its muscular armor and his mask hiding his face, and he brandished a long sword in his right hand. Ice, in response, slowly took out his two daggers from his robe and scooted to his left, preparing to jump out at the Daedra, but before he made his pounce he recited an incantation to do what he did best—turn invisible.

He wacked at the Dremora four times before his spell wore off and hardly gave him the time to think. He slashed and swirled numerous times before he killed the beast with one final blow.

Satisfied and proud of his handy blade-work, Ice went back to pondering about his predicament.

* * *

"That is a lot of Dremora," Elyon glanced over the corner of the wall where, on the other side, was a line of about ten Dremora guarding the entrance of the Sigillum Sanguis where the Sigil Stone floated more than a story above them on the pedestal hovering on the fiery beam and near an overhang connected to the floor below by odd stair-like claws protruding from the walls. At the moment, all Elyon could really see were the Daedra.

"What do we do?" Nightshade whispered. "What about Crow and Ice?"

"Hopefully they haven't been killed and will appear back at Skingrad with us after you take the stone."

"Well, what now?"

Elyon sighed. "I'll distract them, see if I can divert them without getting killed. You sneak past them—Ice has been telling me you're getting better at it—and get the stone without getting caught. Okay?"

"Okay. Good luck."

She inhaled. "Please, be fast and be careful." And in a heartbeat Elyon ran at them, shooting a white spell at the one in the front. Five of them came at her, so she turned to run backwards down the hall where the floor dipped back down to the floor below. Only two Dremora remained at the entrance where the rest of the platoon, backs turned, were trying to kill Elyon. She dodged and smashed gracefully, but Nightshade didn't have the time to watch. She snuck up on the two and slashed at their sides by twirling from the shadows of the wall. They cringed and didn't have enough time to shout to the others for she slashed at their heads, trying her hardest to ignore the blood.

Nightshade knew what she had to do. Running past any Dremora that saw her, she sprinted up the stair-like claws and skidded to a halt at what she saw.

The Kynmarcher guarding the Sigil Stone had an unconscious Crow next to him with a blade to his throat. "Come any closer and the human is Clannfear food."

She froze. "Don't kill him."

"Then put the sword down."

It fell with a clang.

Below, she could see Elyon being overwhelmed by a sea of Dremora out of the corner of her eye.

"Now, kick it over here."

Nightshade could hear Elyon scream something like "Don't do it!" but it seemed like it was miles away. She did as he told.

"Good human," he smirked, "For beating Eclixirz you sure are stupid. But, then again, you weren't alone, like now."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll kill all of you humans and then proceed to taking over the human city outside of the gate. And then, who knows, maybe I'll be promoted to Markynaz."

At this point Nightshade was clueless on what to do and gave up hope. Well, it was time to die… again.

Before either of them could think, Elyon, all cut up and bruised and bloody, came running up with a storm of Dremora behind her and pushed Kynmarcher Hynkath so hard on his side that he fell into the fiery beam and was burned to death instantly. "Quick, grab the stone!"

She shot at it, picking up her sword in the process, and pulled it towards her, and Oblivion began to swirl into nothingness.


	21. Chapter 21: Miscarcands Stone

Chapter 21: Miscarcand's Stone

"What the hell was that about?!" Elyon simply blew up in Nightshade's face.

They were back in the mortal world near Skingrad with their new stone in Nightshade's hands. Crow had gained consciousness and was getting up, while Ice looked plain confused.

"Why did you just give in like that?! You _never _do what the enemy wants. You should've attacked him and killed him!"

Nightshade looked down in shame. "I didn't want Crow to die…"

"If you had devoted your skills to getting him out of the situation he _wouldn't _have died!" Elyon's face was starting to grow crimson through the bloody cuts and bruises. In fact, it was amazing she was still standing up. Several wounds were apparent on her body that dripped blood onto the grassy floor. Her left arm looked limp and broken, and a small bit of her femur bone could be seen in her right leg.

Crow decided it was best to get her cured as soon as possible. "Elyon, maybe you should heal yourself first—"

"I'm fine," she snapped. "I thought you would've learned by now, Nightshade. He probably would've killed Crow anyway! But what did you do? You gave in like a _weakling_!"

Nightshade looked hurt and seemed to be shrinking with each word. Ice was wondering what he should do while Crow was starting to grow a little impatient. "I'm sure if I knew what was going on I'd agree with you, but you're _really _hurt."

"No I'm not—"

"Look at yourself! I can see your bone in your leg!"

She looked down to see the white of her femur. "Oh," she said, and fainted.

* * *

Marie Paleille continued to heal the unconscious Elyon by making her hands glow blue and putting them on her wounds. Elyon lied on a bed in the Chapel of Julianos where, normally, the priests would sleep, but these were special circumstances.

Dusk had settled on Skingrad by the time they had brought her there, bleeding all over the place. None of the three knew any "heal other" spells, so they had to take her to the city chapel to get healed. Crow stood next to Paleille, receiving information, while Ice and Nightshade waited in the main chapel, where people worshipped. Ice leaned on the main altar of Julianos, and Nightshade sat on a pew in the first row near him. Her face was in her hands and her vibrant, red hair covered her head.

Ice felt awkward. He didn't know how to comfort people, and he didn't do a good job last time when the Amulet of Kings was stolen. And Martin wasn't here to do it this time.

"Well, I'm glad that's over with. At least there's one gate gone and a city saved!" Ice's optimism didn't work as Nightshade simply curled up, bringing her knees to her face and her feet onto the pew.

"C'mon, Nightshade," Ice didn't like her depressed, "so Elyon yelled at you. So you made a mistake. That's only human…" he paused, staring at nothing for a few seconds, before going on. "She'll forgive you. It was just the blood loss getting to her brain."

"If I had just taken the stone, it would all be okay. I'm just a weakling, nothing… the only thing I'm good at is taking stones from Oblivion and that's it."

"You can kill Daedra too. And defend yourself."

"But I'm weak. I don't think, just act. What good are skills if I don't have the brains to use them?"

Ice's tone of voice suddenly changed. "I've noticed something about you that really ticks me off, Nightshade. You are afraid of failure, so when you do fail, you get all depressed and start pitying yourself over the littlest things. You've got to move on! Learn from the mistakes and go on with life. I mean, if I gave up every time I failed, I'd still be in Morrowind. Elyon will be fine; she's a big girl. She can take care of herself, plus she knew what she was doing."

Nightshade looked up at him. "You're—you're right. I've got to toughen up."

"Now that's the spirit," he grinned.

Behind them, Crow came out of the chapel hall with a bit of a grim face. Nightshade turned to look over the pew. "Will she be okay?"

He nodded. "Paleille said she'll wake up tomorrow, but she'll be in a lot of pain. She was amazed that she survived at all, and she thought it was weird how she couldn't feel the pain."

"Anger makes the pain go away," she muttered. Ice frowned. "So, what do we do in the meantime?"

"Sleep," he yawned. "We're all exhausted."

* * *

At the Two Sister's Lodge, Nightshade and Ice both shared a room, with, luckily, two beds, and Crow took a room next to them. It felt good to sleep on a mattress, so Nightshade fell asleep in less than a minute. The moon had started to climb the sky, but when she opened her eyes again it seemed to only have moved a few millimeters. Confused at why she was awake in her tiredness, she heard a loud knocking on her door. In the bed across from her, Ice angrily groaned and pulled the covers further over his head. Squinty-eyed, she got up, her mind half-asleep, and hardly reacted to the huffing and puffing Blade in front of her. "Miss… Nightshade…?"

"Yeah."

"Martin said he found… another component that's near you…" he gave one last heave before fully regaining his breath. "A Great Welkynd Stone in Miscarcand needs taking."

"Did you run all the way over here?" Nightshade sounded tired and raspy.

"No, just from my horse to here."

She rolled her eyes. "Where's that?"

"On the road to Kvatch. Do you have a map?"

She shook her head.

"Oh, well, I can't really give you directions seeing as it's in the wilderness—"

"Can't you tell us in the morning?" she almost snapped, "We—I've had a busy day in an Oblivion gate while you were running on your horse here and would like to get some sleep."

"Oh, sorry," he sneered. "I was just doing my job trying to help out the emperor and I get turned out angrily by some tired adolescent. Don't you think I'd rather be sleeping than dealing with you?"

"Shut up!" Ice snarled from his bed near the door. "Some of us are trying to sleep here."

"Can't you write it down or rent a room until tomorrow?" Nightshade rubbed her forehead in an irritated manner.

"Fine," the Blade turned into the hallway, "but wake up early."

She merely shut the door and went back to bed.

* * *

_Nightshade was crouched down, hiding in the bushes near a house like the houses of Skingrad. She felt ominous and dark, as though she was ready to kill something with incredible stealth. She could feel the bow on her back and the quiver of arrows, which she was ready to pull out if she saw her target. A lust she had never felt before, an excitement, filled her soul, but she felt disconnected from her body, like it wasn't her own, and felt like—like _killing _something._

_Slowly and steadily she snuck towards a door she recognized as the front of the Two Sisters Lodge and began to pick the lock, a skill Nightshade knew little of, and yet she opened it with ease. She practically glided across the floor, not waking the proprietor that slept behind the bar. Climbing the stairs, she felt a little uneasy and thoughts she didn't like were filling her head. If she killed her target, the world would die and become nothing but cinders and ashes. But what did she care? These people deserved to die as well as herself. She was just doing her job._

_The bloodlust growled in anger inside her head. How dare she think such nice and pitying thoughts. It wanted blood._

_She picked the lock on one of the doors in the hall and noticed her hands were pale, not black like hers. Curious, she wanted to stop and examine them, but found they didn't obey her command. Instead, they opened the door where two beds were, each with a sleeping occupant, and could see herself in the bed ahead. Panicking, she didn't know what to do as the assassin raised her blade over her sleeping body…_

In a flash Nightshade woke into reality, the memory of the dream vivid and real, and immediately lashed out with her hand to her side. She was supposed to hit the assassin that loomed over her bed, but instead hit thin air and fell to the floor in a heap of blankets. Startled, she looked around and saw the sunlit room was empty save for her and Ice. Confused, and now wide awake, she began to, shakily, get ready for the day ahead.

* * *

"Okay, that's Miscarcand up ahead," the Blade, named Achilles, pointed to the Ayleid ruin that stood eerily in front of them through the trees. Ice and Nightshade were trying to get a better look. Elyon, like Achilles, was on a horse borrowed from the stables and wished she could be on Silver. In lots of pain, like Marie Paleille said, she was in no condition to go with them, but she insisted to at least see them off. On the way there, she apologized sincerely to Nightshade for what she said, and Nightshade forgave her. She was about to tell her about the dreams she had been having lately, but Achilles interrupted.

"What's in there, just dead things?" Crow looked up at the Blade who shrugged. "Dunno. Never been in there. But there is a good chance you'll run into some nasty undead creatures. I'll be safe back at Skingrad when you return, so, good luck!" the young Breton saluted quickly and raced away before anyone could've complained.

The ruin was just as Nightshade had expected except it was bigger. It was made of the same glowing white marble like the passageway she had taken when the emperor died. There were many beautiful arcs and designs, but they were old and dirty with eras of weather. She could see the dirt from a recent rain crusted onto one.

"I'd better go," Elyon's arm was in a sling ripped off of someone's old shirt and her leg was out from her horse, stuck to a stick to keep it straight. Several bruises and cuts, including a large purple stain on her left cheek, could be seen because she only wore her common clothes and not her armor. "I'll see you guys later. Good luck." She trotted off.

Ice shook his head. "She's so weird."

"It must be all those healing spells," Crow began to approach the ruin.

"So, there are ghosts and undead things in there…" Ice looked up at all the arcs and noticed a rather beautiful statue of an armored person with a bird. "Who's that?"

"Maybe that's the ruler of the Ayleids," Nightshade suggested. Crow shrugged. "Who knows?"

They began to walk deeper into the ruins to find the way in. There were many arcs and walls scattered all over like a maze, but it didn't take long before Nightshade realized they weren't the only ones there.

A goblin spotted them a few yards away from a large protruding cylinder. It screamed some sort of war-cry, alerting three other goblins, one close to the cylinder and the other two skulking around behind them. Surrounded, they faced them in a triangular stance.

"What in Oblivion are goblins doing here?!" Ice brandished his daggers like an expert. He didn't have time for an answer as they charged towards each other, Nightshade and Ice taking on the two near the cylinder and Crow the two behind. After a few minutes and healing spells, the goblins were no more.

Crow, after making sure they were dead, took out a book to the surprise of Nightshade and Ice. "Where did you get that?" she asked.

"A few days ago back in the Imperial City. It was the day we went to get the fourth book from Camoran."

On the blue cover was gold letters saying, "Ayleid ruins of Cyrodiil: Commentaries on the remains of ancient elven cities". "I thought it was interesting. I was always interested in ruins back in Morrowind."

"Well," Ice looked impatient, "what does it say? Hopefully it'll be, 'All the goblins have killed the undead and it'll be easy to retrieve its Great Weylkid Stone.'"

"A Great Welkynd Stone," Nightshade corrected him. Crow interrupted before Ice could retort, "'The large and dangerous ruin of Miscarcand is famous for its numerous undead and deadly traps, or it used to be. When I sent a scout there recently, he said he saw goblins known as Bitterfish goblins killing the sentinel skeletons and taking it over. However, it is understood that goblins are no match for the city and won't probably survive all the undead.'"

"Is that it?" he frowned. "No information on the stone?"

"Nope. Just that one paragraph."

"So, then, what's that?" Nightshade looked at the cylinder curiously. Cautiously, they approached it and found stairs leading down to a large door with the knob in the middle as a jutting circle. Ice looked a little shaky as she turned the knob, making an odd scraping noise of marble scraping marble, and they all looked in.

It was dark and damp and not much like the secret passageway Nightshade had gone through with the emperor. It was more sinister and bleak with shadows of cobwebs and piles of dirt with marble bricks. The hallway was narrow and claustrophobic. Both Nightshade and Ice stepped back, changing their minds about going in. Crow, however, looked intrigued and went in.

He walked a few paces before realizing his companions were not behind them. Turning, he saw the two still at the doorway. Nightshade looked torn between going in and merely walking away while Ice looked petrified. "What's wrong?"

"Bad vibes," Nightshade responded. "It's not exactly what I imagined."

"And Ice?"

"He's afraid of ghosts."

"Oh please," he waved a hand, "as long as we have enchanted, silver, or Daedric weapons we can send them to their peace. And the sooner we start the sooner it's over."

Reluctantly, Nightshade took a step in and led Ice by his sleeve, who kept muttering things to calm himself. "Really," she shook her head at him, "you can handle Oblivion but you can't handle this?"

"This is completely different," he hissed. "Oblivion is fire and light and monsters and heat. This place is the exact opposite. It's cold, dark, depressing, and dead."

"Nice alliteration." Crow pointed out.

"Thanks."

They walked in silence for a while, Crow seemingly enjoying this excursion while the others were tense and flinched at every noise. Nightshade found it unusual that he was so relaxed.

A few halls later they ran into a goblin. It screamed and attempted to kill Crow but miserably failed as he stabbed it in the side with his claymore. A few feet away was a chamber, dimly lit and glowing orange. "A fire," Ice murmured. "So much for the undead killing the goblins. Maybe the goblins killed the undead."

"You shouldn't get your hopes up," he began to cautiously side-step into the room. He looked around and discovered that the fire was, in fact, in another level of the room. The floor stopped at the edge of a pit, and as they all peered over, they could see three goblins below. One was near the fire, sitting on something blue, red, and squishy. The other two were around the pit, listening and guarding.

Crow signaled for them to come. "I think we can sneak past them—"

Suddenly, there was a scream-like war-cry from one of the goblins below. Their shadows danced and showed that they were running towards the entrance of their pit, but could just barely see that they were attacking something else. They looked over and saw they were battling a skeleton with a shiny war-hammer that was knocking their brains out. Each goblin fell down with just a few blows, dead.

"That's one skeleton," Ice whispered. "Maybe instead of ending up like those goblins down there we should just sneak past them."

"Good idea," Crow nodded, and as the trio began their search for the Great Welkynd Stone, Nightshade, out of the corner of her eye, for just a moment thought she saw a shadow other than that of the skeleton and the dead goblins.

* * *

It was several hours, traps, push-buttons, remote gates, doors, and secret passageways later before any of them found the time to rest. "This place is just a big maze. How could anyone live here?" Ice was shivering, either because he was scared or because it was very chilly compared to outside.

Crow sat on a chest and took out a torch. None of them wanted to emit any light in case a skeleton, or something worse, saw them. "It must've been very different back when the Ayleids were alive."

"I wonder what time it is," Nightshade looked up at the ceiling were a carving of a sun seemed to, at one time, been the home of numerous spiders. Ice, in response, shrugged. "It could be any time. I feel like we've been in here for a year."

"Don't over-exaggerate," Crow took out some bread and vegetables. "Anyone hungry?"

Silently, they all ate, tension increasing as no noise was made at all besides their eating. Once they were finished, they continued down the hall they were in, only to find a room they had already been in.

"Great, we're going around in circles!" Ice snarled. "We're lost with no way of knowing where we are! All that's in this room is a bunch of coffins and chests!"

Crow took out his book and began flipping the pages in search of some help. "Do you see any push buttons?"

"No."

"Umm, what about pressure blocks?"

"Pressure blocks?"

"They're buttons in the ground that you have to step on to activate."

Nightshade and Ice began hunting around on the ground, looking for pressure blocks, until Nightshade spotted, on top of a coffin, a bright blue stone. Intrigued, she pushed down on it, trying to dislodge it, and instead opened a doorway in front of Crow, who jumped with surprise. "Good job!"

With him ahead, they traveled down the hallway, Crow eagerly, Nightshade warily, and Ice very slowly.

They came into a room with a large, elevated center with something glowing on top. "That must be it," Crow breathed. "Do you see any way up?"

Nightshade shook her head. "But the sides of the center look…funny. They've got weird lines in them, see?"

Ice was looking around, jolting his head from left to right with fear. "Hmm, wait! See that push button over there? That must be the way up!"

Cautiously, they snuck around, not seeing any undead or goblins, which seemed to disappear more and more the further they had went down, and pushed it. The indentations on the sides of the elevated center suddenly jerked to life, going forward and revealing stairs up to the top and disturbing any cobwebs and dust near it. "We found it," Crow's eyes shined with discovery and awe, and as they walked up, Nightshade and Ice too felt the same. The stone was thin and long with two sharp tips and brittle sides. Neither of them could tell truly what color it was, for it gave off a strong, white and azure glow that temporarily blinded their eyes that were used to the dark. Crow wanted to see it from all angles, so he circled it to the other side, while Nightshade and Ice were too stunned to speak. "It's so… _beautiful_."

"And to think Martin's going to destroy it so we can get to Camoran's Paradise," Nightshade's words made Crow sigh. "What a price to pay."

He reached out to grab it gingerly and lifted it off of its pedestal. "We have to be careful with it. Who wants to carry it?"

As Crow examined the stone, both Nightshade and Ice turned frigid and pale at the sight behind him. A black swirl formed and sparkled to reveal a floating green ghost that had black pits for eyes and fangs for teeth. It wore a gold and red crown on its head along with matching armor, and carried a mace of huge proportions. It began to lift it up behind Crow, aiming for his head, right when Nightshade regained her voice. "Look out!"

Crow had just enough time to move his head from the blow but was wacked painfully onto his left shoulder. Bleeding and limp, he backtracked to Nightshade. "Quick, take my sword and give me yours. I can't fight with two hands." Swiftly, she obeyed, and they switch swords while Ice continued to be paralyzed with fear. Luckily for him, the ghost ignored him and continued to try and attack Crow, who blocked with the Goldbrand. Nightshade was having problems with his silver Claymore, which was too heavy, and noticed two other shapes coming after them. They were two zombies half-running, half-waddling towards them, one with a nasty-looking, mutilated blue body and the other even worse and headless. "Ice, snap out of it and give me one of your daggers!"

He wasn't listening. He was just standing there, wide-eyed and fearful, petrified and ashen.

Annoyed, she ran to him and began shaking him by the shoulders. "Ice! Stop staring and start fighting!" the zombies were making their way up the stairs now. "If you don't you'll die!"

"Die…" Ice echoed blankly. Frustrated, Nightshade simply took a dagger from his belt. It felt odd because she had never fought with a dagger before, but she figured it couldn't be much different from her Goldbrand. However, she decided to shoot fireballs the size of three Sigil Stones at them.

Slowly, steadily, Ice began to unfreeze. He couldn't just stand there while Crow and Nightshade got all the action. And he certainly wouldn't die without a fight. As she started to loose magicka and back away from the zombies, he leapt into action, taking his other dagger and plunging it into the side of the headless one. Without realizing what he was doing and going mad with fear, he didn't dare stop slashing it and stabbing it, even as it punched back.

Nightshade found that daggers weren't as easy as they looked and her arm was quickly growing tired. To her, they didn't seem to do much damage, but the zombie looked weaker than it did before. She had discovered that the enchantments on both of Ice's daggers did nothing, so she decided to shoot fire spells at it. Crow was making much headway against the angry ghost, who seemed to be weak against Goldbrand's burning blade.

After lots of blood, slashing, and fire, both zombies were dead along with the ghost. Crow was drinking a healing potion when Nightshade approached him. Ice was standing over the headless zombie, in awe at what he had done.

"You ok?" she took a potion from him and watched his shoulder slowly heal.

He nodded. "I might be a little sore, but it was worth it to kill that lich. I think it was the king of this place."

"Lich?"

"Worst kind of ghost. Thankfully they're weak to fire."

Ice snapped out of his awe and saw a wall behind them open up. "Hey, that looks like a shortcut out of here!"

"Thank goodness for that," Nightshade followed Crow, who was carrying the stone in his left hand, and Ice was admiring himself for his bravery. The stone glowed even brighter as they left, and Nightshade couldn't keep her eyes off of it.

* * *

"Wow, took you long enough," Achilles and Elyon greeted the trio at a vineyard outside of Skingrad. It was night time when they had exited the ruin, and both Achilles and Elyon were asleep when they arrived. "Is that it?"

"No, it's a worthless piece of quartz that we just wanted to bring back to show how pretty it was," Ice sarcastically sneered. "We had to go through a maze with goblins and skeletons and evil zombies with a lich king just to find it."

"That must've been hard. At least none of you died. Well, you all had better get heading to Kvatch and I'll take that back to Martin. I'll hopefully see you back at Cloud Ruler Temple. Good-bye!" Achilles mounted his chestnut horse and began running towards Skingrad and Bruma with the Great Welkynd Stone under his arm.

Elyon smiled. "I spoke to the Count and he said he'd send some guards over to Bruma. Should we start heading out now or get some sleep first?"

"Sleep first, out later," Nightshade spoke the thoughts of Crow and Ice as well, and they went back into Skingrad to sleep. And Nightshade dreamt about how wonderful the stone was.


	22. Chapter 22: Stuff of Dreams

Chapter 22: Stuff of Dreams

It was still morning when Elyon, Crow, Nightshade, and Ice reached the smoldering city of Kvatch. Most of the people, despite the crisis being over, were too scared to start rebuilding in case the Daedra came back, and were scared even to leave. "Everywhere is a target now," Nightshade heard a Wood Elf in a blue dress whisper to a Orc woman, "Every city even has an Oblivion gate now."

Although most of the tension was gone from the camp, no one looked happy. To themselves, they were all stuck until the invasion was completely over. Not one believed that the Daedra would stay away from them.

None of the group were surprised to hear that Captain Savlian Matius was still inside Kvatch, trying to get everything in order although the villagers said it was a waste of time. They themselves wasted no time, for with such good timing Elyon was hoping to reach the city of Anvil before nightfall.

Kvatch had changed very little, the only difference being that there were no fires, but everything was a mess like before. Savlian Matius was discussing something about Ocato in whispers with his second-in-command inside the chapel before seeing them in the doorway. "Well, if it isn't the Heroes of Kvatch! What brings you here?"

"We need guards for Bruma's defense," Elyon wasted no time getting straight to the point, "The last attack was bad enough. We think they'll try the same thing there as they did here, and we don't want another city in ashes."

Matius frowned. "'They'?"

"The bad guys," Ice chimed in.

"But I thought all the cities are in danger of that."

"Not so much as Bruma," Elyon's face had turned stern and serious. She was in a serious mood after hearing about what happened in Miscarcand.

He sighed and nodded. "I'll send a few men, for the country and the empire."

"Thank you."

* * *

Stars glistened in the sky like distant blinding flames when the small band hit Anvil. Without much looking around, they noticed a distant orange glow in the hills. No one was active enough to think much of it, so they entered the city and spent the night at the Count's Arms, which seemed too far for the lazy and complaining Ice. As of what Nightshade could remember that following morning, it was peaceful and quiet that night, but it radically changed as she stepped out of her room.

The inn had suddenly changed to a tense congregation of about ten people, all who were worried and loud. It was in fact this noise that had woke her up from a rather odd dream about a blizzard.

"What's going on?" Ice peered out of his door, looking at Nightshade who was watching from the top of the stairs going down to the tavern. "I'm not sure."

"They don't sound happy."

"Nope. But we have to start leaving to see the Count."

Ice opened his mouth, about to say something, but the doors to the inn swung open. The crowd suddenly quieted. Curious, they started descending the stairs for a better view.

It was a man in white robes followed by a procession of townspeople, several with a weapon either in their hands or on their belts. One peculiar man who looked like a short Nord was wearing a sign that, in crude, red letters, said, "The End is Near." The Imperial in white entered with gusto, commanding respect as he walked past the whispering congregation. He stepped up onto a table where the worried onlookers and anyone watching from the stairs could clearly see him. The inn was now so full that Nightshade and Ice couldn't join the crowd if they wanted to.

"People of Anvil, it is now our time," the man in white lifted his arms. "The Daedra, in their jealousy, have chosen to kill humanity, but we still have hope."

"How?" the Nord with the sign sneered in doubt.

"The Nine will help us."

"When?" a woman cried, "When we're all dead?"

There was a sudden uproar in the tavern below Nightshade and Ice and the man in white. "The Nine will help when the time is right. We need faith and loyalty!"

"My ass," Ice hissed with a rather pleased smirk towards the Imperial. "He's not so in control now, is he?"

"What can we do to survive? What happens when they invade like Kvatch?"

"Well—"

"What do we do when Mehrunes Dagon smashes the walls?"

"We—"

"We run for our lives!" the Nord threw up his hands. "We must run while we still can!"

And with those words the horde ran for the exit with the force of a stampede of angry bears, leaving the man alone, on his table, and Nightshade and Ice could finally come down for some breakfast. The innkeeper, also the supplier of food, had followed the crowd outside, so the adolescence helped themselves to the food behind the counter, Nightshade being kind enough to leave money on the counter. They seated themselves and were into their meal when Ice turned around in his chair and asked the man, "What's up with them?"

"The Oblivion gate outside, what else?" he stepped down from his pedestal. "Haven't you seen it?"

"No," Ice spat crumbs onto his robes. "Figures, our luck. Every city has one now?"

"Yes, or at least they say."

Nightshade stopped eating. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Prophet, once a priest at the chapel here, well, before the whole Underking fiasco. With the chapel in ruins I preach in the gardens in the southern part of the city. And who are you?"

"Nightshade, and this is Ice."

He smiled a sarcastic smile. "You chose a pretty bad time to come to Anvil for a vacation. The whole city is in panic."

"Really? Haven't noticed," Ice was punished for his rudeness when Nightshade stepped on his foot with extra force, causing him to cringe as she spoke. "We're not here on a vacation. We know how to close the gates; we've done it before."

This aroused the Prophet's interest. "Really?"

"Yeah, we're the Heroes of Kvatch."

"By the Nine! Mere teenagers heroes of Kvatch?!" the Prophet was very taken aback and almost fell backwards into a table. "That's terrible."

"It is," the dunmer girl agreed, and before more words could be spoken the doors once again opened with gusto, this time to reveal Elyon and Crow, both fully dressed and looking rather confused. "I was wondering where you guys were," Ice grinned.

"We just came back from seeing the Count," Elyon didn't notice the Prophet. "Apparently there's another Oblivion gate."

"Yeah, we know," they said in unison.

"How?"

"There was just a big meeting here," Nightshade took a bite of bread and leaned back in her chair. "This is the Prophet, their leader."

The Prophet bowed. "It's nice to meet the Heroes of Kvatch. Haven't you heard that all of the cities are each threatened by an Oblivion gate?"

Crow shook his head. "No."

"The people here are nuts with fear," Ice again spoke with his mouth full. "They followed some guy with a sign outside."

"So they're panicking?"

"Pretty much."

"Then we'd better start moving," Elyon adjusted her armor, "let's hurry before they riot."

It was too late. As they exited the inn, there was the horde of people at the east gates where Elyon, Crow, Nightshade, and Ice had entered the city that night. A line of guards blocked the people from getting near the gate. "No one is allowed to leave the city without special permission from the Count."

"Why not?!" several people shouted, although not exactly in the same words.

"There is a dangerous gate out there that can kill anyone that is not behind these walls. If the whole city leaves, the Daedra will have a blood-bath."

"Hey," Elyon pushed her way through the crowd, making a pathway for the others to comfortably walk through. "We have special orders from the Count."

There were protests from the crowd, but Elyon raised her arms, and her calm and soothing voice quieted them. "We are here to destroy the Oblivion gate."

The mob broke into whispers as the gates opened for them. Nightshade saw the Nord with the crude sign scowling. "You won't succeed," he shouted after them, and the gates closed in his face.

* * *

On their way to the Oblivion gate, Nightshade told her friends about the last Oblivion gate and how she had had a dream. When she told them about her most recent one involving a blizzard, Elyon shook her head. "There is no snow in Oblivion."

"Looks like we're going in without a clue again," Ice sighed as they jumped into the portal.

It was nothing special. As they jumped, all of them were together, and there wasn't a soul in sight. Cautiously, they advanced.

It wasn't like the other gates, with three citadels, but instead was a large mountain with one citadel on top. It was a steep grade upwards, so they followed awkward paths winding around the mountain. There were very few Daedra, most being scamps and Clannfears, and after quietly passing through a few caves reached the citadel with a record time of just an hour.

For some reason the citadel seemed to be taller than the other citadels in the other gates, and this caused Nightshade to be uneasy. Everything would await them in there. With swift steps Crow and Elyon stormed in only to find the circular room empty. There was no Daedra, just them, and the only sounds were that of the thick beam of fire in the middle and the whistling of the wind.

"This is too weird," Elyon peered around, flexing her fists, but nothing ran out at them or shot a spell at them. Crow's chainmail boots clunked and echoed eerily. Ice's breath sounded like the ocean waves lapping at the shores of Anvil which they could hear at night. Nightshade felt like she had some sort of fever.

"There's only this locked door," Crow was trying to pry it open. Ice pushed him aside in a sudden burst of bravery. "I'll unlock it." He tried a spell, with didn't work, and then dug into the left pocket of his robe to reveal a light brown, shiny lock-pick. With skill he slid it in and began to turn it in different directions.

And then Ice began to look different to Nightshade. He was getting blurry, like she was in murky water. Everything seemed to be like that, and her mind seemed to suddenly go blank. Elyon seemed to be holding her head, and Crow was leaning against the wall. Ice was saying something, but collapsed only a moment before she did.

* * *

For a moment, Nightshade thought she didn't open her eyes, because all she saw was darkness. She blinked slowly, feeling every muscle, only to find that she had either gone blind or there was simply no light.

She was lying on something cold and hard in the shape of a bed. She turned, placing her legs on something squishy, stiff, and wet. Recoiling, her legs automatically came back up onto the slab, and then cautiously came back down. She grimaced and began to walk and balance herself on the bumpy things before hitting something dangling from the ceiling. It was like the things on the floor, except she could feel that it was cold and clammy. It was dripping something, water maybe, and it drenched her armor as she continued to walk.

It wasn't long before she found a wall, presumably made of the same stone as the citadel, and followed it along, crunching and squashing the material under her feet. Her eyes had started to grow used to the dark, but all she could make out were the long shapes that hung around her. They looked like sacks, just hanging.

And then a brilliant thought came to her. Why not just brighten the place up with a fire spell? With hardly a mutter of words her hand sparked and a flame came alive in the middle of her palm. Pleased with herself, her happiness didn't last long.

Nightshade's eyes grew wide with fear as she looked around her. They were not sacks hanging from the ceiling but bodies, pale and tinted blue with death, jaws gaping, teeth rotten, eyes distant and yet reflecting the terror they had seen. The liquid dripping from them was none other than blood falling from gashes and wounds. She was standing on similar bodies, those that must've fallen or maybe the Daedra were just too lazy to hang them. The blood, she noticed, was also coming down the walls and ceiling, slowly creeping downward towards her.

She almost screamed except she stopped herself by closing her eyes and holding her mouth. It was better not to see the horror around her; a sense of nausea swirled in her stomach and she vomited. It was then she noticed the smell of decay and death, putrid in the air, and saw that the sleeves of her armor were stained a dark red from touching the walls and bodies. _This can't be happening, _she thought, and closed her eyes again, this time tighter.

For the first time since waking up she thought about the others and felt alone, wondering where they were. Wherever they were, she thought, it was better than there.

She knew she couldn't just stand there, so she reluctantly and warily moved on, holding a hand to her mouth and nose, crunching the bodies so that blood squirted out onto her leather boots. Several times she swallowed down vomit and closed her eyes out of disgust. _This must be some sort of disposal room,_ she distracted herself, only to find her mind back with the bodies.

Nightshade went in circles, finding no door. The ceiling was too far up for the light to reach, so it looked like an empty black void forever going up.

She stopped and went back onto the stone slab, hoping to find help there but was to no avail. It was just a slab, just some stone. She was trapped.

The bodies didn't bother her anymore as her mind raced. She couldn't fly out, she couldn't jump out, she was helpless. She paced in concentration, and without realizing it began to walk on the bodies, thinking and walking, before something almost caused her to trip.

Nightshade hopped a little on her remaining foot and looked back to see that her foot was being held by a thin, gnarled, blue-tinted hand shooting out of the bodies. She screamed this time, and fell as the rest of the body came up. And she felt like screaming again.

It was Ice, or what looked to be Ice, in his robes and his daggers, his hair the same, but his face, his body, was bloody, his eyes distant, his lips gone to reveal his imperfect teeth.

And then all the bodies started moving. She saw everyone she'd ever met: Elyon, Crow, Martin, Baurus, Lyze, even the lobbyist from the Arcane University. They were all dead, all rising from the ground, the blood, all zombies, all wanting to kill her.

She was surrounded, her sword gone, she had just realized, and helpless. She waited for them to close in on her, kill her, turn her into one of them…

She opened her eyes to see that, without any words or incantations her body had shot out fire in all directions, burning the zombies. With a burst of speed she sprinted towards the stone slab and stood on it, refusing to question what had just happened, and frantically looked for a way out.

They were coming closer, and soon they were at her legs, ready to bring her down. She had no choice; this _was_ the only way out.

In fear, she shut her eyes, feeling their hands on her, ready to consume her…

The pain never came. In fact, when she brought up the courage to open her eyes the whole room was gone.

Instead, it looked like she was in a well-lit dungeon-like hallway made of light brown stone. Nightshade found it hard to walk; her legs were wobbly and shaky from the fright she had just had, but she was very bewildered. How did she get here? Or, a better question, where was "here"?

It didn't take long for her to suddenly praise the gods. At the end of the short hall was a cell, but a very big cell with a whole pile of gold glistening like stars along with a cart full of gold as if someone was going to scoop up all the gold and move it, but got tired. However, it wasn't the huge pile of gold that made her happy. It was Ice, crouching behind the cart in total terror. She called out, "Ice!" and he looked, wide-eyed at her through the bars of the large cell. She couldn't tell if he was telling her to come or go away, but she bounded to the door and stood next to him in less than a second. "What are you doing? Did you see the bodies? Why are you here?"

"Get down," he hissed, pulling her arm and forcing her on the floor. "She'll see you."

"Who?"

When he opened his mouth the ground suddenly shook like someone was walking in the cell. The cart suddenly got pulled upwards and holding it was a giant woman, elderly and yet looked well despite her light azure wrinkles. Her black hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and she scowled with her Dark Elf eyes down at the two, her purple dress now billowing in a wind that came when the ceiling disappeared to make room for the woman. "Ice," she boomed in a raspy, stern voice that matched her look. "Ice, wasting time again? Why weren't you at your lessons? You'll amount to nothing like your father if you don't. Don't ignore me!" She flung the cart at the pile of gold, causing coins to scatter everywhere. Ice was paralyzed with fear, and muttered, "How could this happen?"

"Ice, Ice, who in Oblivion is that?" Nightshade looked up dumbly at the giant. He, however, responded by jumping to his feet and running to the door. Incredibly, as no one was watching it, it had locked itself, thus Ice was shaking the bars desperately. "What are you doing here, you thief? Stealing from the treasury. Your grandfather would be ashamed!" In rage the woman began throwing what looked to be toxic green spells, causing poison gas to disperse around the room. Nightshade and Ice started coughing frantically. She crashed into the bars with her shoulder and he wheeled backwards in a whooping cough. Everything started to go dark when someone crashed through the door and began whacking like crazy at her feet. Another began to heal Ice first and then came to her. When her blurry vision came back and the poison cleared, she saw Elyon in front of her. "Are you okay?"

"Mmph," she mumbled. "What's going on here?"

"I'm not sure. If you haven't noticed, it's hard to think clearly."

She looked over at Crow, now shooting bolts from a cross-bow Nightshade had never seen before up at the face of the woman. "Where did he get that?"

Elyon shrugged. "He had it when I saw him."

"Should we be killing her?"

"I think killing is the way out," she looked at the woman, who was now not paying any attention to Ice and was trying to kill Crow unsuccessfully. He was always fast, Nightshade remembered, but never that fast. He was dodging her blows with fantastic agility. Something wasn't right.

"This… this is too weird…" she held her head.

She was interrupted by a shriek somewhere between the roar of a lion and the cry of a scamp. The woman began to dissolve in the air, and the whole world spun under her…

Nightshade opened her eyes to see the top of the interior of the citadel. She groaned, sat up, and saw she was at the edge of the top floor. In front of her was the fiery beam, heat hitting her face intensely. The others around her stirred, but there was no Daedra running at them, trying to kill them, just the Sigil Stone, hovering above the pedestal. Without thinking, on an act of fear, Nightshade got on her feet and shoved the stone to her chest, and everything began to fall apart.


	23. Chapter 23: Nightmares Revisited

Chapter 23: Nightmares Revisited

The fiery gate to hell closed behind Nightshade, baffled and bewildered, with a sound between crashing boulders and a lion's roar. However, the others had already started heading back towards Anvil, especially Ice, whom was several meters away.

As she struggled to catch up, too many questions formed in her head. What had just happened? Were those dreams, or hallucinations, or real? What had Elyon and Crow seen? Who was that gigantic lady? Where were the Daedra? What sort of gate _was_ that?

She trotted through the grass and reached Elyon. The Wood Elf was staring straight ahead, not looking at Nightshade, biting her lip in what seemed to be hard concentration. Crow, walking briskly, had his hood practically covering his whole face while looking at his feet. Ice was too far away. The silence over them was strangely eerie and tense. The only noises heard were their footsteps, the rattling swaying of the dry grass, and the distant lapping of the waves on the shore.

"Elyon," Nightshade seemed actually nervous to ask, "what just happened?"

For a moment she thought the alchemist didn't hear her and was going to repeat herself when the bosmer shook her head. "I don't fucking know."

This was the first time the Dark Elf had ever heard her curse like that. She decided that this was a delicate matter which needed time.

The band was greeted by a cheering crowd in the setting twilight, but they hardly reacted. Nightshade seemed to be taking all the phrase and would've expected at least Ice to say something. However, she saw her friends automatically heading for the Count's Arms, and quickly followed.

Ice was furiously stomping up the stairs, and a few seconds later slammed the door of his and Nightshade's room. Elyon and Crow had already disappeared out of sight, presumably to get ready to leave. Nightshade was fairly sure no one was especially tired.

She sighed, checked her sword, and began to think about what had happened. Those zombies… she was scared of them at first, but she had overcome them and actually felt good about herself. Sure, they were her friends, but for some reason it hardly had mattered. And it still didn't matter. It felt… weird. It made her frown at her own contentment.

* * *

They left Anvil after visiting Count Regulus Terentius unexcitingly. The stars seemed brighter that night, either that or Nightshade had never bothered noticing the stars before. It was mesmerizing to look at the sparkling night lights. The two moons were crossing each other's path, the smaller purple moon in front of the larger, gray one. She wondered what it would be like, to live on the moon. It looked so desolate up there. That was one place Mehrunes Dagon couldn't get to.

It was then she was the first to see the large creature fling itself off the top of a rock, its gigantic paws spread open to reveal sharp, narrow claws that could slice anything in half. She yelped in surprise and ducked, the creature skimming the top of her head and landing behind her onto the cobblestone road.

Everyone turned around to see Nightshade staring into the eyes of a lioness. The creature's head, when on all fours, reached her hip, and its jaws could snap a person in half.

Elyon was the first to react. She ran up to Nightshade, took her sword, and faced the creature with ferocity. Ice and Crow both stood off to the side, rather indifferently.

She slashed the Goldbrand right when the lioness sprang at her. The sword hit its face with such a force that its head twisted sideways and its neck made a horrible cracking noise. It fell, not moving, blood spilling onto the cobblestone road. Nightshade stared, almost in horror, not at it but at Elyon, who stood there, clearly in horror as well.

Crow went towards Ice and dropped the backpack with all their supplies. Without saying anything, a mutual agreement spread through them that they would camp there for the night.

* * *

The campfire flickered in the fresh, marine breeze, causing Nightshade to poke it with a stick. Crow was already in his sleeping bag, asleep, but even Elyon and Ice were too hungry to sleep. They were cooking mushrooms and vegetables on the fire with a frying pan. Tension was clearly visible.

"That's it," Nightshade took the pan off the fire, none of the vegetables cooked yet, and placed it on the dirt. Ice whimpered with hunger.

"Now, what the hell is wrong with everyone?"

"That… that nightmare…" Elyon stared into the flickering flames. "It was so real, so painful…"

"Maybe you should talk about it," she put her arm around her in comfort. "They weren't real."

"Maybe not for you," her choked whisper was almost a hiss, "but it was for me."

"What was it?"

She turned away. "The worst day of my life." Out of nowhere Elyon burst into tears, her face in her hands. "I just can't talk about it right now."

Silence came upon them until Nightshade turned to Ice. "What about you?"

"What about me?" he snapped. "It felt pretty real to me."

"That's impossible. Magic can't do that."

"Daedra magic," he took the stick and practically wacked the fire, "it pit us against our worst fears."

"You fear a giant lady?"

His pale azure face began to flush. "She's ten times worse than any Daedra. And she's not a giant."

"Well, I died in my dream and I ended up with you."

"What was your fear?"

"You guys turned into zombie and I let you kill me. That was the only way out."

"Facing your fears made you get out of your nightmare," Elyon had stopped crying, her face stained with tears. "That's how we came into Ice's dream."

Nightshade looked curiously at her. "You and Crow had the same dream?"

"No, Crow came into mine. I didn't need to be there to know what his dream was about, though."

"What?"

"Sayura, of course."

The silence settled on them again, the rustle of the grass and trees riding on the breeze. "I don't want to go into another gate," Ice took the pan from Nightshade and put the vegetables back on the fire even though his appetite was gone. "What if it happens again?"

"We'll have to go in no matter what," Elyon stared at the fire again. "We're not cowards, and the world means more than my fears."

Ice sighed. "Fine, but if it happens again, I'm leaving."

Nightshade smiled, and everything was back to normal.

* * *

They were all happy again; Crow back to practicing spells, Elyon gathering ingredients while walking, Ice trying to learn new magic, and Nightshade throwing fireballs into the air.

Bravil took all day to get to. They passed through Skingrad, not bothering to stop, and continued to walk the several miles it took to get to Bravil. Twilight was beginning to arrive, causing the shadows to grow long on the ground.

The town was an eye sore. It was wet, being right on the Niben Bay. The buildings were made of what looked to be rotting wood, except for the castle to the southeast and the Great Chapel of Mara. The houses were basically shacks stacked up on one another, and even the dirt didn't have the decency to be dry.

But before Nightshade could take it all in she was surprised to see two familiar faces in front of the gate, and two familiar creatures. Richu came running up to Elyon, tail wagging, and she responded with a tight hug. Silver whinnied at her master, who petted her on the snout, and then the bosmer turned to Baurus. "What brings you two here?"

Nightshade and Ice were saying their hellos to the young emperor Martin, still adorned in rather common clothes, while Crow nodded at Baurus in greetings. The Redguard replied, "He was getting tired in Cloud Ruler Temple, so he ordered Jauffre to let him join you guys at Bravil. However, he's not allowed to go into the Oblivion gate."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Nightshade asked, but Martin shook his head. "I've been improving my skills. I can fight with a sword almost as good as Baurus can, and I'm getting better with my magic. You guys look like you've been through a lot, though."

"Oblivion gates are no picnics," Ice snorted. "Especially the last one."

"Oh, what happened there?"

The young adolescents began to recall their story as they all entered Bravil, their troubles melting away, and only friendship was with them.

* * *

There were two figures watching the group of them enter the town, one in red and the other in black, both oblivious to each other. The figure in black frowned, clearly distressed, and almost growled in frustration at what she was going to have to do. She moved swiftly in the grass and hid behind a tree. She knew this was her last chance or she'd be reassigned, her reputation in the murdering world ruined. But she didn't want to go back there, the old prison of her childhood.

Dalkai Laneth sighed, without a choice, and began to prepare for the kill ahead, while the other, meters away, watched them disappear into Bravil. The dark dunmer grinned. What luck it was to kill two birds with one stone. The Heroes of Kvatch and the future emperor right in front of his eyes, all for him to take the lives of. Harrow snickered to himself; finally, after following them for almost a week they were in his grasp. He disappeared into the Nibenay Valley and began to prepare for the day ahead.

_A Word from Haunt: I not only wrote this chapter but redid the prologue too, so don't forget about that._


	24. Chapter 24: Famous Heroes

Chapter 24: Famous Heroes

_She was walking in mist, red either by the sun set or by the blood at her feet. She couldn't tell. Her black hands glowed red, and fire were the walls of the hall, door-less and hot, but she didn't mind. She wanted to leave, but the air was so stifling. She didn't notice the fire forming at her feet with every step._

_Something was next to her, something large. The mist was too thick to even see her knees, but something had definitely ran past her. A wind blew a bit of cool air, but it was slight, distant. And she heard a distant scream._

_She ran with the force of fire propelling her feet. She stopped, dead in her tracks, and stumbled on something below the mist. She fell, and saw the face of Baurus, blank and cold, a scream engraved forever on it, dead. Fear pulsed through her; this was different than her other dream in Oblivion. She was brave and felt nothing; here, however, she felt like the little girl years ago looking for the first time at an arena fight. She stumbled backward, stopped herself from screaming, and stood up to see two figures. One was dark, his hands clasped around the other's throat. Martin tried to get the hands of the Dremora off him, choking. The Dremora was laughing, knowing her presence, squeezed harder, and she was frozen there. The future emperor was turning blue, dying, and there was nothing she could do as blood oozed out of his face except scream…

* * *

_Nightshade's own scream woke her up as she bolted straight up. She was breathing hard and realized she was in Bravil, in the inn Silverhome-on-the-water. Ice, lying in a bed on the other side of the small room near a chest of drawers not exactly standing next to the wall, jolted literally out onto his feet, crying sleepily, "I got it!" Confused, he looked at her. "Did-did you just scream?"

Before she could respond, their door broke open, falling with a loud thump. Baurus, in sweats, Crow, in a gray robe, Elyon, in a nightgown, and Martin, in rather ragged clothes, all stood, ready for battle with weapons or, in Elyon and Martin's cases, ready to throw fists or spells. For a moment, they looked around, and then at her with confused faces. Baurus was the first to lower arms. "What the heck happened?"

"I-I had a nightmare."

"Ugg, again," Ice plopped back onto bed and pulled the covers over him.

"Well, I guess that's a good thing seeing as there's no one trying to kill us yet," Martin's optimism got no smiles from the tired and haggard people. They went to bed without another word.

As Nightshade slipped back into her dreams, Dalkai Laneth slowly emerged from behind the chest of drawers. Was that the future emperor, what was his name? It escaped her, and yet it suddenly caused her to be distressed. She couldn't kill this dunmer girl; she was fighting against Mehrunes Dagon. And she leapt out of the window into the muddy street below.

* * *

Bravil, amid the mud and rotten odor, seemed a rather humble city to Nightshade. Everyone was confident that the Heroes of Kvatch and the future emperor were going to save them from the Oblivion outside. However, when Martin had to explain to the proprietor he wasn't going anywhere near the gate, the proprietor looked a little downcast. "Still," he said, "it'll be something to attract tourists: 'Silverhome-on-the-Water: Where the Emperor Martin Septim stayed before the Heroes of Kvatch destroyed the Oblivion Gate.'"

When the five of them left Baurus and Martin and went to the gate, things were rather calm. There were no guards, no Daedra, just a load of fire on a ruined fort. This made Elyon frown. "I don't like the looks of this," she growled. Richu, whom had grown a little since the last time Nightshade saw her, next to her, withdrew from the leaping flames and barked.

"Well, we have no choice. Whatever we face in there, then we face it," With that, Crow went in, followed by the others.

There was no odd magic at play. In fact, the five of them were together, right in front of a gate leading to the Citadel, and were attacked on sight by five nasty-looking Dremora. These were powerful Dremora, Nightshade realized, and weren't the standard Churls and Caitiffs. They were all Kynreeves except one, a Kynmarcher Nightshade recognized as Eclixirz from Bruma. His battle armor was higher on his neck as he fought Crow. Instead of enjoying himself, like he was in Bruma, he was very keen on simply killing him. It wasn't long, though, until they were overpowered, with only one Kynreeve dead. Surrounded, Nightshade was the first to give up. She thought it odd, however, that it seemed like none of them were really trying to kill them (besides Eclixirz). And then one shot a paralyze spell on Elyon, causing her to freeze, and Ice was pinned to the floor. Richu was being held by her neck, thrashing wildly, until she bit the hand of her captor and fled. Crow was knocked out, and yet without gushing blood. "Find the wolf and kill it," Eclixirz snarled at a Kynreeve, who seemed to sneer back before following orders.

Eclixirz looked at the badly bleeding Nightshade, her leg seemed to have been hacked at several times. "Such a pity I can't kill any of you."

"What do you mean?"

"My orders are to find and imprison the intruders, not kill them," he was clearly angry at this. "but enough talk. Let's get you to the Spindle Shrine."

* * *

Inside the Spindle Shrine, they were taken to the very top, where they were bounded and defenseless next to large cogs and a switch only a meter away from Ice, who was on his knees and too frightened to notice. There was a ramp leading down, and in the center of the room was nothing to stop someone from falling to the spikes below. A cage hung just above it with the bottom open.

All they could do was watch as Eclixirz waited for "Markynaz Kylyx" to appear. The Kynreeves were irritated and serious, scowling at Eclixirz behind his back.

Finally, the Kynreeves suddenly stood to attention like statues. Eclixirz saluted as a Dremora much more muscular, with finer armor and larger simmering sword strutted up to the group. Behind him were two pale-bluish-gray figures Nightshade had never seen before. They were human-like, shirt-less, and very muscular. One had a warhammer strapped to his back while the other had an axe on his hip. They stood next to the Markynaz like prized body-guards. And the last of them was a grinning, happy Dark Elf in red robes.

"Well, here are your prisoners," Markynaz Kylyx swept a hand graciously at them, presenting them to Harrow as he nodded. "How would you like them taken care of?"

He didn't hear the Dremora's question; instead, he approached them, his smirk unwavering. "Well, well, well, look what we have here. The traitors from before. I had no idea you all were the Heroes of Kvatch until I took the initiative of following you. Pity you all couldn't work for the good of the Mythic Dawn."

"We'd rather die," Crow spat, which made a Dremora smack him on the back of his head.

"You must be the new leader now that the Camorans are gone," Elyon had a bit of blood dripping from the side of her mouth. He nodded proudly. She grinned. "I feel sorry for the Mythic Dawn."

"Why?"

"Because they have to listen to you."

The Dremora, who didn't understand what she was saying, slapped her, while Ice and Nightshade were snickering a little anxiously and Harrow sneered, "You'll be eating those words, Bosmer."

The Markynaz was growing impatient. "Stop stalling."

"How did you even get in the Mythic Dawn?" Nightshade joined in on the taunting despite the threat from the Dremora. "Did you win a raffle? Because you certainly didn't fight your way in."

"Yeah, he must've kissed a lot of asses to get in," Ice was getting light-hearted. Taunting was a specialty of his. "You can't even fight your own battles; you need Dremora to do your dirty work."

Harrow was starting to turn red with anger. "Shut up; I did not!"

They burst into nervous laughter. Kylyx frowned. "Don't listen to them—"

"I happened to kill a sacrifice to get in, just like you!" he hissed. "It was hard work, finding all those stupid books! And what appreciation did I ever get? No one ever bloody listens to me!"

"We can see why," Crow grinned.

"How dare—"

"Enough!" Markynaz Kylyx growled, breaking the cycle. "It is apparent to me that you are incompetent and unable to do your assignment." He snapped his fingers and a being next to him stepped up. "Xivilai, take the useless human up in the cage and bind him. I'm sick of hearing his annoying voice." He nodded and grabbed Harrow by his arms. He struggled and began shouting spells, but the Xivilai pinned him and a horrible cracking sound and scream reverberated through the tower. The Xivilai had successfully broken both of Harrow's arms in one swift kicking motion, and then he silenced him with a bright spell. They all watched as he threw him like a doll into the cage hanging above them, and the force of his throw closed the bottom with a click, so helpless Harrow had no means of escape.

Kylyx turned back to the prisoners with fierce calmness. "Now, I deal with you my way. Xivilai, take the girl to the Citadel."

Eclixirz's face suddenly dropped. "But, sir—"

"Don't worry," he hissed. "I won't make your mistakes. We'll teleport her to Mehrunes Dagon from there. You deal with them." He twirled on the balls of his heels. The Xivilai grabbed Nightshade and practically dragged her down the ramp with Kylyx swiftly strutting after them.

* * *

On the top of the Citadel, wounded Nightshade sat leaning against the wall on the highest floor, the fiery beam and a Sigil Stone floating only a few meters away. In the middle of the floor was an odd circular footstone with runes carved in glowing red paint. Kylyx stood, waiting for one of the Kynreeves to return using the rune. She figured it was some sort of teleporter going to the mainland of Oblivion. However, she had trouble focusing on anything because of the pain in her leg. The Markynaz refused to let her heal herself; every time she tried he ordered one of the Xivilai standing guard next to her to hit her on the back of her head.

Finally, the rune flashed red and a Kynreeve appeared. "The Lord wants the girl unharmed."

"Fine," he snapped his fingers at her. "Heal yourself, human."

"No," she snarled, defiance stretching through her despite the throbbing pain.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm going to die anyway."

"She's stalling, sir," the Kynreeve shook his head.

"I can see that." He flung his arm in her direction, a blue healing spell shooting out of his hands. "I should teach you some manners—"

He froze in place, his brow furrowing at something on her chest, a golden glimmer shining from the fiery beam behind him. In a blink of an eye he was in front of the bounded Dark Elf and grabbed at her necklace, pulling out the amulet; part of its chain had been showing on her neck. He analyzed the amulet, first by holding the chain above it and then by placing his hand on its back. His hand immediately began to sizzle and smoke; he quickly withdrew without even an utter of pain, with instead a slight smirk.

The Kynreeve looked a little confused as he stepped back from Kylyx. "What just happened?"

"No time to explain. Xivilai, watch the girl and make sure nothing goes wrong, if you can. Kynreeve, check on Eclixirz." He suddenly stepped on the rune and disappeared.

Nightshade watched him, hoping that the others would get themselves out. She had lots of faith in them, but after what had just happened, she wasn't sure anymore.

* * *

"Right, how should we do this?" Eclixirz thought aloud to the other Kynreeves.

"Why don't we slit their throats?"

"Aw, have you no imagination?"

As the Dremora bickered in their snake-like language Ice began to reach for one of his knives. With great difficulty he managed to grab his ice dagger and twirl it with his fingers so the blade rested on the rope. As he tried to cut himself free Elyon noticed the lever next to him but she saw that a few feet away from Crow was a switch next to a bunch of cogs. Crow closely watched the Dremora, almost like he was trying to make out what they were saying.

Eclixirz snorted something and took Ice by the collar of his robe. Seizing his opportunity, he thrust his dagger with all his might through the Kynmarcher's armor and straight into his stomach. He was immediately let go while blood spattered out, and the Dremora reeled backwards, mistaking how far the floor went, and fell to the spikes below.

"Ice, give me a knife!" Elyon shouted. The young dunmer threw his poison dagger, but it was too late. The Kynreeves were advancing, prepared to kill him, until something gray and black flew through the air and hit the back of a Kynreeve, causing him to lurch forward onto Ice's dagger, and his head hit its tip.

"Richu!" Elyon had freed herself and was now working on Crow. Ice, with still bounded feet, was trying to defend himself from two Kynreeves, while Richu ran over to her master.

After Crow's arms were free, Elyon let him cut the ropes on his legs with his claymore while she quickly went in to help Ice. Amazingly, they defeated the Kynreeves before Crow stood up.

"Right, we have no time to lose," Elyon ruffled the fur on Richu's head, "One of these switches must throw open that gate we saw when we first came in."

"What about me?"

They all turned to look at Harrow, the silence spell gone but the pain in his arms affected his voice. "Can't you save me?"

"Why should we?" Ice sneered. "You're the enemy."

"I swear, no more Mythic Dawn stuff if you save me. I'll tell you all their secrets, like how they open the gates, how they truly plan to kill the Emperor, and what they want with your friend."

"How can we trust you?"

"Look," he wheezed, "I've overheard a lot of private conversations with the Camorans. You're friend, she's an orphan, right? She has a power, this really strong power, that has something to do with Oblivion, and they were planning on letting that power free to help ruin the world, but something kept it from coming out. They didn't know what it was, or how she got it, or if it was part of her. They just knew she had it."

"And what about the Emperor?"

"Get me out and I'll tell you everything."

They looked at each other, until Crow sighed. "Fine, but how?"

"I know a levitation spell. If you can heal my arms and open the cage, I'll levitate myself out."

"Oh, no, we're not falling for that," Ice shook his head. "Right when we let you out you're going to start casting spells and try to kill us."

"No, I promise!"

"Sorry, it'll take more than that to convince us," Crow growled.

"Well, we can't just leave him here," Elyon tried defending him, but without avail as Ice still shook his head. "I say we should—"

A shriek echoed harshly into the tower. Ice had leaned on the lever, causing it to pull backwards and opening the bottom of the cage. Harrow fell several yards before he hit the spikes below and his body erupted into nothing but parts and blood.

Ice grinned nervously. "Oops."

* * *

They ran, nonstop, to the Citadel, only pausing to kill any Daedra in their way. By the time the four of them, counting Richu, reached Nightshade and killed the Xivilai, Markynaz Kylyx still hadn't returned.

"Here," Ice crouched down to untie her. "Harrow's dead."

"Yeah, something weird happened here. My amulet—"

"No time!" Elyon helped her up. "Just get the stone!"

She lunged for it right when the rune began to glow. As Oblivion fell apart around them, Kylyx was stuck between worlds, and before they were spun back to Tamriel, Nightshade saw his body deteriorate into nothingness.

* * *

"Well, that's odd."

Martin sat in a rather comfy-looking chair in the inn in Bravil as Nightshade told him and the others what had happened. He held the amulet to the light. "Hmph."

"Harrow said something about some sort of power from Oblivion," Elyon looked worried. "What if that's how she's getting it?"

"There's only one way to find out," Baurus folded his arms while standing behind Martin. "She won't wear it for a while and we'll see what happens."

"That sounds sensible," Ice was drinking something that was smoking from the bottle. "We'll go to Leywiin and, hopefully, you'll be better."

"But who's going to hold it?"

They were silent, until Crow spoke up. "I've had more experience in dark magic than any of you, so I will."

As he took the amulet from Martin, he stared at it oddly. Elyon frowned. "What is it?"

"I just thought I saw something for a moment. It must've been a trick of the light." He pocketed the amulet, and when they went to bed for the night, he found he couldn't sleep, for what he had saw troubled him more than any Daedra in Oblivion.

* * *

_A Word from Haunt: Sorry this took so long. I thought this was one of the worse chapters and it was really boring for me to write. Plus, school's been a bother and it pisses me off. Oh well, I think the next one will be better to write._


	25. Chapter 25: Blackwood

Chapter 25: Blackwood

The journey to Leyawiin wasn't very long despite all the mud and swampland the group had to trudge through for hours. They had come at the peak of the rainy season, so all the roads were buried and pretty much lost. Every ten minutes another mudcrab was either stepped on or slashed to pieces.

Leyawiin itself wasn't as bad as Bravil. The houses were better kept up and the streets weren't as muddy and waterlogged. However, none of them noticed; they were all wondering where the Oblivion gate was.

"Hey," Baurus flagged down a patrolling guard, "where's Oblivion?"

"Taken care of," he grinned. "You all must be the heroes of Kvatch."

"By who?"

"The Fighter's Guild. First good job they've had in a while."

"Thanks." He turned back to the others with a frown printed on his face. "This has Black Night written all over it."

Ice pointed behind him. "Speak of the devil."

Black Night walked towards them, still adorned by her ebony armor, mace, and scowl. "You're too late."

"Thank goodness," Martin looked relieved. "No more worrying about you guys dying."

"We did the Oblivion gate in Cheydinhal, too."

"Who's paying you?" Baurus folded his arms."

"No one. It's good practice for my members, although the Counts pay us for our generosity to our fellow men."

"How?"

"The Mage's Guild developed some gloves for us to use from Morrowind. But I'm not in Leyawiin for the Oblivion gates."

"Then what?"

"The Blackwood Company."

Ice raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"The Blackwood Company. They're a group of mercenaries that have been taking our jobs for way less than we charge."

"So you think something's wrong just because they have lower prices for their services," the Redguard shook his head. "Typical Fighter's Guild."

She grimaced again. "I know there's something wrong. An old member of the Fighter's Guild betrayed us and told them all he knew. He was one of the dead in a completely slaughtered village a mile out of Leyawiin. There's definitely something going on here."

"How do you know an angry member of your Fighter's Guild didn't kill him?" Nightshade regretted this as Black Night grabbed the collar of her armor and pulled her towards her face. "You calling my men murderers?"

She quickly shook her head as Baurus and Crow got her to let go. Black Night returned to her solemn posture. "We may have scoundrels and warriors in the Fighter's Guild but never would they murder someone that didn't pose a threat. There's definitely something going on here," her scowl turned back into a grin, "which is why I'm glad you all showed up."

Elyon folded her arms in disapproval. Ice began to fidget his feet. "What do you mean?"

"I need somebody to infiltrate the Blackwood Company and find out what's going on without getting killed. They know all the Fighter's Guild members, but two young, ambitious teenagers in need of money is very unsuspicious."

"Wait," Crow looked at Elyon, "why can't we go?"

"You're too experienced, too suspicious. We need fresh faces. The Hero of Kvatch and her little sidekick want to be a part of the fastest-growing mercenary group in ages. What's so suspicious of that?"

"I'm not little," Ice muttered, but Nightshade nudged him. "Well, I'm up for it. Beats Oblivion gates any day."

"Fine," he sulked a little.

"Perfect. Get a good look around the place, and be careful. Try not to ingest anything or wear any of their armor, and do this as quickly as possible. I don't want them getting smart to our little meeting. I'll be in the Guild hall right across the street from it. Good luck."

* * *

The Blackwood Company hall was a large, two-storied building adorned with suits of armor, trophies, and a grand dining room with a table to fit at least thirty people. There weren't too many people around, but Nightshade and Ice were directed only to an Argonian upstairs. When they reached him, however, he was talking to a familiar Khajiit. The reptilian beast made a toothy grin as they entered. "Well, more recruitsss, eh?"

"Yeah, we're looking for good-paying work," Ice approached him.

"Really?" he looked at them, examining them. "Wait, aren't you the Hero of Kvatch?"

"Hero_es_," he muttered. Nightshade ignored him. "Yes."

He grinned again, his mouth forming wrinkles on his scales, his voice wrapping around each syllable of his words as though he had learned the language from a dictionary. "Wonderful. All you have to do isss complete our initiation training."

"Training?" Ice raised an eyebrow. "Dude, we've been in the deepest depths of Oblivion and you think we need training?"

"Oh, our training is unlike any you've probably ever experiencssed." There was something wrong with the way he grinned that made the young girl shudder.

"Alright."

She hesitated. "O-okay."

"Excssellent," he hissed, "J'skitta, take the initiatesss to the basssement. We'll sssee just how well you have trained in Oblivion."

The Khajiit scowled, motioned for them to follow, and led them out of the room. As they left, Nightshade turned and out of the corner of her eye, she could see the Argonian's eyes sparkle and his lips still curled to a smirk, as if he knew something they didn't.

Down the stairs they followed S'rasha, him silent. Nightshade figured he was the only source of information they would get. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing here?" he growled. "Why do you keep following me around?"

"We're following because the Argonian said so—" Ice started. S'rasha turned violently. "Not that, you idiot! This is the third time I've run into you two."

Nightshade intervened. "Don't call him an idiot!"

"Why not? It's true. I've been watching you two long enough. Why don't you just get married already?"

The two dunmer blushed vividly as they reached the bottom of the steps. "And he's not just an Argonian. His name is Jeetum-Ze."

"Is he the leader?"

"No. We don't have a set leader, unlike the Fighter's Guild." He opened the basement door, his keys jingling, his dark, fiery orange fur showing a little through his armor. With a swoop of his arm he pushed them inside. "Get in."

The basement was a training room, one half below the other led by stairs, and a door below leading to somewhere they presumed was more training. They went down through a gate, where two other members with the Blackwood armor were waiting. The larger one, an angry-looking Khajiit, approached them, while the other, a shrimpy young High Elf, seemed to shrink a little at their presence.

"What took you so long?" the beast snarled.

"Jeetum-Ze had some new recruits," he muttered, his violent and irate manner back to his introverted style from before. He seemed almost embarrassed.

He snorted and examined them. "You're the Hero of Kvatch. What are you doing here? Don't you get enough fame?"

"I'm not in it for the fame," Nightshade stared right into the Khajiit's eyes, returning the challenge in them, as Ice hissed again, "Hero_es_." "I want some money."

For a few seconds they held the stare, Nightshade unsure of why she was doing it. Then, he grunted. "Fine. But I doubt you'll last very long." He snapped his claws and the altmer scuttled to a shelf. "Get on some armor. I'm your captain, Ja'Fazir, and your new boss. Don't cross me."

They shed their own armor, revealing their shabby clothes, and put the dark steel armor with the large tree on. They wore the smallest size, but Ice still looked like a round shining ball. He was laughed at by his companion and frowned with shame.

"Right, you'll need to drink this," the Khajiit took several bottles down from the shelf. "It'll give both speed and strength for our assignment."

"Umm, what is our assignment?" Nightshade asked as everyone uncorked their bottles. Their captain scowled with annoyance. "We're going to Forsaken Mine to the south. There have been reports of trolls attacking the miners." As he turned around to get his bottle and the others chugged theirs, Ice nudged her, shook his head, and pointed to the bottle. Black Night's words came back to her about being careful. He nodded, put up the colored bottle bottom up, and pretended to drink. Nightshade followed suit, and saw Ice quickly hide the bottle in his armor.

"Right, let's get this over with," he drank the bottle in one go. "Follow us and don't fall behind; we're not here to babysit."

Invigorated by their drink the group ran with their heavy armor all the way to the mine outside of Leyawiin. The two dunmer were huffing and puffing, their bodies hurting like knives were stabbing them, but the others didn't notice. In fact, they seemed rather indifferent to everything. As they entered the cave they hardly noticed the dark; they simply ran in silence while the two stumbled around, tripping on rocks. "Come on," S'rasha hissed before Ja'Fazir slowed to a stop.

Nightshade and Ice saw with their blood-red eyes a Breton miner with dirt-stained clothes picking away at a vein of ore in the wall. Confused, he put his pick down and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Ja'Fazir acted too fast for the Breton to comprehend. He took his claymore and planted it straight down his head.

The dunmer stared, dumbfounded at this act of sudden brutality, while the Khajiit simply said, "Stupid trolls."

"This is madness," Ice whispered in horror as the others ran deeper and hacked anyone they saw and were too preoccupied to notice the two novices not joining in. Nightshade nodded in agreement. "We need to stop them."

"Don't be stupid," he growled lowly. "They're too strong; we would die and then what would Black Night do? Let's just ditch the armor and get back to Leyawiin. We have enough for Black Night to act on, plus evidence." He took off the armor, revealing his tattered brown tunic, black pants, and the bottle. Nightshade followed suit and the two slipped away into the darkness without the insane warriors noticing.

* * *

The sun was beginning to lower in the sky when Ice and Nightshade ran into Leyawiin, sweating profusely from the afternoon heat and humidity. They were terrified that maybe they had been followed by one of the mercenaries, so they went straight to the inn where Baurus, Martin, Crow, Elyon, and Richu were relaxing in.

Elyon was the first to see them coming into the bar area. "What happened, and where's your armor?"

"Back at the hall. We need to find Black Night, and fast. They're all dying down there, in the dark…" Nightshade trailed off, bloody images coming to her mind, making her feel a little faint.

"Maybe you can identify this," Ice held up the bottle shimmering in the sunlight. "They drank it before they killed everyone."

"Killed who?" Baurus got up with concern on his face.

"The miners down in Forsaken Mine. They just… slaughtered them…" Nightshade sat down in a chair, looking distant, "for no reason at all…"

Martin sighed. "They had just reopened that mine too."

"Ah, well, I don't think it was for no reason," Ice shook a finger. "They kept calling them trolls. Maybe they really thought they were trolls."

Elyon studied the liquid and nodded. "I think you're right. I saw something like this when I was studying alchemy in Morrowind. It must be some sort of hallucinogen, a stimulant, a drug, causing them to see things differently and feel powerful at the same time."

"But why?"

"Black Night will figure that part out," Elyon readied himself. "Ice, come with me."

As they left Martin looked at Nightshade, worried. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head. Crow looked at her interestingly too. "It must be a side effect from not wearing that amulet while in battle. While you should've had the power you didn't, so your body must be out of alignment."

"Should I lay down?"

"No. You need to be strong without the power and get used to it."

She sighed and relaxed in her chair, wondering what Black Night would say when she heard the news.

* * *

"Aha!" Black Night exclaimed, her face lighting up as she snatched the bottle out of Elyon's hands. "Do you know what this is?"

"Some sort of hallucinogen, I suspect," Elyon frowned a little, but her eyes shimmered with amusement.

"Correct! This is the extract of a Hist tree," she snapped her fingers to an apprentice, who quickly nodded and left her room in the Fighter's Guild Hall. "These trees are illegal trees from the Black Marsh simply because everyone misuses it to create these poisons. We've raided smuggling parties with this stuff before. It's worse than skooma."

"How?" Ice watched her put on her ebony armor.

"You've seen what it can do. Skooma just makes you laugh a little and kills your brain while this stuff makes you see this really differently. Somehow the Blackwood Company have found a way to control what a person hallucinates specifically."

Elyon looked bewildered. "But why?"

"They must do illegal work alongside regular work, which explains how they can afford to do jobs so cheaply. In order to keep it a secret they make sure not even their own people know what's going on. Luckily for you they took you to a secret mission."

"What are we going to do?"

"We'll raid them, demand that they close down, and kill the Hist tree so no one can continue their company." She strapped on her mace and stood up to face them. "If we have to fight, we fight. Do you have any idea where the tree might be?"

Ice thought for a moment. "Well, there was that door in the basement."

"Good, we'll try that. Don't you have any armor?" she noticed Ice's clothes as he shook his head. "Well, put on the chainmail armor over there, and hurry it up."

The three of them, including five other members of the guild and the apprentice Black Night had talked to ran across the street to the Blackwood Company hall. Black Night kicked the door open, adrenaline pumping through her with excitement, and yelled, "Show us the Hist tree or you're all going to be in big trouble!"

She grunted as an Argonian woman came hurtling at her, screaming, "Fighter's Guild scum!" Several other members charged at the others. Ice tumbled out of the way, quickly unsheathing his daggers, and headed straight for the basement door, only to be blocked by S'rasha, glaring at him with his yellow, cat-like eyes. Without a word they clashed blades. Elyon was fiercely punching anyone who got in her way, and ended up facing Ja'Fazir with his sharp axe. She had to dodge him with lightning speed.

Ice, mustering up all of his strength, managed to push S'rasha into the pandemonium and quickly cast a purple spell onto the door. It's lock clicked open, and he quickly went in before S'rasha knew what was going on.

* * *

Nightshade lounged in the lobby of the inn, staring at the ceiling with boredom. Crow was reading a book Nightshade had recognized from the Imperial City that had no title on the cover. Martin was studying his notes he had brought with him. He had relayed how he had sent some Blades to a tomb called Sancre Tor, where the third and last component was, the armor of Tiber Septim himself for the blood of a Nine, but he had this bad feeling that he had missed something. Baurus was filing his nails.

The door to the inn suddenly swung violently open, revealing both a gusty wind and what looked to be two humans. Nightshade looked up to see a girl, no older than herself, accompanied by a rather tall man. Both were Dark Elves and wore odd clothing. The girl was dressed in a billowy blouse adorned with a floral pattern and many beads and a skirt made of several layers of fabric, each longer than the other as they went closer to her feet. The man looked rather worn out and irritated. Both of them were carrying cases and bags, but clearly the man carried more.

The two of them walked up to the proprietor, who stood behind the bar, and the girl asked in a shrilly, young, a bit excited voice, "May we please have a room?"

They paid the proprietor and began to head upstairs to the room before she noticed Nightshade staring at her. For a moment their eyes locked on each other in bewilderment before the girl laughed. "Hey, you're the Hero of Kvatch!" she dropped all of her bags and walked briskly towards her in a bouncy fashion and a huge smile on her face. "It's such a pleasure to meet you!"

"Umm, same here," Nightshade had never received such an excited greeting before. "I'm Nightshade."

"Ooo, I never imagined I would meet you here, or anywhere! The things they say about you and your friends are most fascinating. Oh, I'm Takura Telvanni."

"You're accent's from Morrowind, huh?"

"Yes, is that obvious? Well, I suppose it would be. I'm more specifically from Vvardenfall."

"Oh," Nightshade was becoming a little interested, her boredom ebbing away, "what brings you here?"

"That's a long story—"

"I've got time."

Takura looked behind her to see that her escort had taken the bags up to her room. "Well, to put it simply, I'm looking for my love. He left rather unexpectedly and we were supposed to get married several months ago."

Nightshade scoffed a little. "You must love him a lot."

"Very much so. You see, our marriage will bring the alliance of the Telvanni and Hlaalu house together. I can't imagine why he would leave. It's like he didn't love his family or something like that." She looked out of a window behind Nightshade. "I should get going; I have a lot of unpacking to do. Good-bye! It was truly a pleasure to meet you."

"Good-bye," Nightshade waved once, "and good luck on your mission."

"Thank you," she beamed, "I have a feeling I'll find him here."

* * *

Ice ran for his life through the basement, down several down-hill halls, and a torture chamber. S'rasha and the rest of the party were several meters behind him, chasing each other and trying to stop each other. He finally reached a door marked with a tree and yanked it open while simultaneously casting an unlock spell.

Four purple-robed people looked in alarm at Ice as he stumbled into the room with the large Hist tree. He noticed that there were many pipes attached to the trunk and that were making deep noises. There was a confused pause before S'rasha followed by the others pushed him away. As the fight came into the tree room the robed people joined in, casting spells in multiple directions. Elyon came to Ice's rescue bearing Ja'Fazir's axe, a prize she took when he tripped and fell in one of the halls, and took over the fight with S'rasha. "Break a pipe or something!" she shouted to Ice above the clanging of swords and weapons. In a panic he began to slash random pipes quickly, and in a few seconds an angry hissing sound was emitted into the cavernous room. Everyone stopped to listen, and then a robed man yelled, "Quick, she's going to blow up!"

It was a mad, chaotic struggle towards the door as everyone scrambled to get out. The group made their way into the hall while the tree rumbled and the room began to collapse. Popping noises whizzed past them, and when it boomed into debris it pushed them all out into the training room.

"Right," Black Night was the first up and on her feet and was baring her mace menacingly. "Anyone with the Blackwood Company had better surrender now because that explosion was bound to wake the whole city."

Reluctantly and sorely some of them got up, accepting defeat, while others, including S'rasha and the altmer Ice had seen earlier, were rather perplexed. Elyon noticed this. "Didn't you know?"

"Know what?" the altmer asked.

"That stuff you were drinking was an illegal drug that made you see things differently," Ice frowned. "It's obvious the higher-ups knew."

Black Night took away the weapons held by the members. "We'll take you to the prison and can let the incredibly slow law judge you. You two," she pointed her mace to Elyon and Ice, "I'll see you tomorrow. You should get some rest."

They nodded, and left the Fighter's Guild to the job.

* * *

That night, as Ice lied there on his bed, sharing his room with Nightshade, he thought about the past day. He turned to look at the female dunmer. "Nightshade, are you awake?"

"Umm…"

"I've been thinking."

"That's nice."

"I don't think all those members deserved to get arrested. I think they sincerely didn't know what's going on. I mean, S'rasha did try to kill you, twice, but still, his confusion was genuine. And that tree, why did they have to kill it? It didn't do anything. Why couldn't it keep living—"

"Ice?"

"What?"

"Get some sleep."


	26. Chapter 26: Ice's Secret

Chapter 26: Ice's Secret

Nightshade sighed in contentment as the past few days replayed in her head. All the cities were now safe from Oblivion—for the moment. She was walking into the fine, and rather late, morning from the Silverhome-on-the-water with the fine clothes she had from her first trip to Skingrad with Martin and Baurus. Behind her Ice came out, still half-asleep, and then Richu, bouncing and barking with the delight of another adventure. Elyon was coming from outside the gate of Leyawiin where she was getting Silver ready. Crow came out while rummaging through his backpack, Martin was looking at his notes, and finally Baurus followed while looking around for potential enemies.

Black Night was waiting for them with a grin Nightshade had never seen on her before. "Is everyone okay?"

"Uh, yeah," the dunmer answered.

She nodded. "Good. You and your friend did a good job yesterday and I'm proud to say that I worked with the Hero_es _of Kvatch."

Ice beamed with a sleepy smile. "Thanks."

"In thanks for your work I've decided to give you some new armor, seeing as yours was left behind in the Blackwood Company Hall. I see you got a new robe," the Redguard noticed Ice's attire, "and you still have the chainmail armor I gave you yesterday. So, Nightshade, I give you this. You like light armor, right?"

She nodded.

"Then this one will be perfect for you. Here's a complete suit of mithril armor. It's light, shiny, and should fit you like a glove. And as a greater token of my gratitude to all of your help you are now welcome in any Fighter's Guild Hall as a member. You can sleep, eat, and train there as much as you like—for free."

"Thank you," Elyon slightly bowed her head. "We're honored."

Black Night was about to bid them farewell when Nightshade was aware that the girl she saw yesterday was coming out of the inn. She turned to look at her while she came down the steps, and she seemed to look up at her. A big smile came on her face, and she suddenly broke out into a run. Nightshade thought she was running at her and recoiled a little, but Takura ran straight past her and immediately wrapped her arms around the rather stiff and paling young Dark Elf behind her.

"Repice! By Azura I thought I'd never find you! Your family is so worried! Your cousin said—"

At the sudden exclamation Richu growled and jumped back. Elyon and Crow were frozen in the spot. Nightshade looked utterly bewildered. And as Takura let go, Ice fainted.

* * *

"Ice… Ice… ICE!"

He opened his eyes to Nightshade, sitting next to him on their bed back in Silverhome-on-the-Water. She had slapped him awake, causing a large handprint to turn red on his cheek, and her blood-red eyes were angry and cold. "Ice, is there something you want to tell us?"

The Dark Elf sat up, rubbing his face where she had hit him, a major headache growing in his temples. "What happened?"

"Some girl hugged you and you fainted," Crow, although his hood hid his eyes and his arms were folded, was smiling amusingly while sitting in an old, wooden chair near the foot of the bed. "What was her name?"

"Takura," Nightshade was slightly pleased to see Ice sink back down onto his pillow and groan. "I was hoping that was a dream."

Elyon came into the room, interrupting the interrogation, with a wet cloth and placed it on Ice's forehead. Martin and Baurus followed. "You must be in shock."

He nodded. "Where is she now?"

"She left to pack to go back to Vvardenfell," Nightshade's voice began to have a sharp edge. "When she said she was looking for a guy, I never imagined it was you."

The young dunmer's eyes grew distant, his face in clear disbelief. "But… _how_?"

"How what?"

"How in Oblivion did she _find _me?"

"Why is she looking for you?" Elyon's brow was furrowed, her eyes firm. "I'm confused."

There was a silent pause. Ice continuing to look into the distance, until Nightshade sneered, "Well, Ice, tell us why Takura is looking for you."

The pause continued for a few seconds before Ice sat up reluctantly and sighed heavily. "It's a long story."

"We've got all day," Baurus said.

He glared at the Redguard before looking at Nightshade. "I haven't lied to you, if that's what you're thinking. I just… never told the whole story." He gazed at his thumbs absently. "You see, my mom's the Enangui. My dad's the Hlaalu. He lived in Vivec with my grandmother and father his whole life until he met her, the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, which is why my cold-hearted bitch of a grandmother allowed them to marry."

"Ice," Elyon disapproved of the provocative language.

"What? It's true."

"She was the woman in your dream in Oblivion, wasn't she?" Nightshade made the connection.

"Yeah, but I'm not there yet. Anyway, they had me in the same year of their marriage, but they wanted to study Daedric ruins, so they left me in Vivec with them most of the time."

"Get to the point."

He decided not to glare. "Well, she's a tyrant of the Hlaalu house. So, I ran away to my parents, and I saw them die, right in front of me, and I didn't know what to do. I escaped, I suppose lucky to have my life. I sort of… wandered around for a few days before my cousin found me and sent me back. That was three years ago.

"When I got back, I was basically put under house arrest. I eventually would sneak out at night, at first just to see the city, until one day a group of thieves let me into their gang. Those were fun nights… anyway, a few months ago, Grandfather wanted to have an alliance with the Redorans in this stupid House war. So, Grandmother arranged a marriage… with me… and her.

"I didn't know who she was. I'd never met her until a few weeks before the wedding. I was fucking nervous."

Elyon frowned. "She seems fine to me."

"Dude, I'm not going to marry someone I hardly know! I found… I found I didn't like her. I mean, she's nice and all, but… I don't know. It's almost like she's too nice, too sweet, like she hasn't grown up past five years old."

"There's something you two have in common," Nightshade's scoff went unnoticed.

"I know it's fucked up to leave someone on the altar like I did, but I couldn't bring myself to tell her. I thought running away would drop some sort of hint, but her head seems as thick as a watermelon."

There was silence for a while, all six of them absorbing Ice's story, until Crow spoke up. "I think you should tell her."

"How? I'm no good at serious stuff like this."

"You have to tell her what you just told us."

* * *

Ice slid nervously into Takura's room, biting his lip, with a stealthy Nightshade behind him to eavesdrop on their conversation. The Dark Elf girl had just finished packing all four of her backpacks and was sitting on the bed, looking at her hands. She jumped up and instantly beamed when she saw him. "Ice, you're better! Does your head hurt? Do you need anything?"

He said nothing and gently pushed her so she sat on the bed again. He sat next to her and looked at the scared impression on her face, mixed with worry and anticipation.

"Takura," he began, knowing he would have to be gentle and tactful with the bubbly girl, "why do you like me?"

"Why? Because you're smart, funny, kind—"

"You hardly know me!" he jumped up, abandoning his gentleness and tactfulness with a wild look in his eyes. "I hardly talked to you! Whenever you were around I would just sit there, listening to you talk about what mother said or what cousin did! Did you know I'm a thief? Did you know I've been bullied and harassed all of my life? Did you know I've been to the deepest, darkest pits of hell and survived? I'm not a very good person! Takura," he calmed and sat back down, "you're too nice for me. You're only here because of your family."

They stared at each other for a moment, Ice expecting her to light up, smile, and say, "Yes, you're absolutely right," but instead Takura broke down and began to cry, startling him. "But they told me that if I didn't find you I might as well not go home."

"Don't listen to them. Look at me! I'm way happier without my family. I get to do whatever I want now! I… I have a new family."

She rubbed her eyes and tears. "But I love my family."

"Then… then go back and say no! Be brave! Find someone new in Morrowind. Travel. Live, by the Nine! Then go home and say, 'This is me and there's nothing you can do about it.'"

She stared at the bed, her tears gone. "Well, I… I have been enjoying Cyrodiil probably more than I should have. And-and I did meet new people."

"See! You don't need me and can survive without your family. Let's just be friends and nothing more."

She hugged him heartily and compassionately. "I'll try."

He stood up. "I'm glad we understand each other now."

"So am I. And Ice," she called before he stepped out of the door, "you really are a good person, and I think you'll find whatever it is you're looking for here."

He blushed a little, muttered, "Thanks," and walked out without noticing Nightshade in the hall.

* * *

The sun was a little lower than midday point when the group said good-bye for the second time, this time to Takura. She planned on returning to the Imperial City the next day and get a job. "I'll look for a job in textiles to pay rent and I'll save up and lead my own life before I go back to Vvardenfell." She hugged Ice who kept blushing. "I'll see all of you around I'm sure."

As they walked northward back towards the could Jerall Mountains Martin looked downcast and worried. Nightshade looked at him. "What's the matter?"

"While Ice's little drama was playing out I was looking over my notes about reaching paradise. We have the blood of a Daedra, the blood of a Nine (from Sancre Tor), and the Great Welkynd Stone. We're missing the final ingredient: a great Sigil Stone, the opposite of the Welkynd Stone."

"Uh-oh," Crow could see where this was going.

Martin looked at their worried and anxious faces. "We're going to need to open a Great Oblivion Gate, just like the one in Kvatch."


	27. Chapter 27: Small Hope

Chapter 27: Small Hope

"Ok," Jauffre slapped his hands on the table, causing the band to jump. They had reached Cloud Ruler Temple in the afternoon of the second day, and were apprehensive to hear what plan Jauffre had conjured up while they were away. They were in the east wing library, watching him with nervous eyes.

"We have come up with 'Operation GSS'."

Ice tilted his head. "What's that stand for?"

"Operation Great Sigil Stone. You see, back in Kvatch, they had to open three gates in order to open a Great gate. Our plan is to let the Mythic Dawn open these gates and bait them out. While we're dealing with the Daedra, you guys must run into the Great gate and quickly get the Sigil Stone before they have a chance to destroy Bruma. If it's like Kvatch, they'll have a siege engine, which are not all that fast."

"It buys us time," Crow observed, and Jauffre nodded. "Thanks to all of you helping out the cities, they've agreed to send out guards to manage the Daedra outside the gates. If we're correct, once the Great gate collapses, the others should too."

"It's like all the gates are connected," Martin was paying rapt attention.

"Yes. If this works, and you guys work fast, there shouldn't be many casualties. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Nightshade's voice showed skepticism, "how are we supposed to speed though Oblivion without getting killed?"

"Ah, yes, well, you'll have to run for your lives. But don't worry," he said rapidly, "create diversions, take a bunch of power and speed potions, and you'll be fine. The rest is up to you four. Martin, Baurus, and I will be with the guards defending Bruma."

"Wait," Martin looked a little shocked, "I'll be in the fight?"

The Breton smiled. "You'll be leading it."

"What? I-I can't lead a fight!"

"They'll be expecting it," Baurus sighed. "You're their beacon of hope, especially with the heroes of Kvatch at your side."

Before he could object it, the doors of the library creaked open. They all turned to see a Dark Elf poke his head through and look sheepishly around. "Um… have I interrupted something?"

Ice's eyes suddenly lit up with adoration as Nightshade recognized the dunmer. She had forgotten his name, but he was the thief in Boethia's stadium, the one that was the husband of what's-her-name…

She furrowed her brow, half out of bewilderment of why he was here, and half out of the fact her head seemed to be swimming in a pool of loose memories.

"Ah, Ashen Black, I presume," Jauffre grinned. "It's been a while. No, I was just explaining the plan."

"Oh," he stepped in as Nightshade was massaging her temples, a headache settling. "I hear I'm to be part of your excursion through Oblivion. Hello, Elyon."

The Wood Elf had rose and was now giving Ash a hug. "How's Lyze?"

"Doing well. She's taken an interest in the Daedric world, now that she can actually go into it and come out alive. You should see it back in Morrowind. All the Daedric cults are rising out of their shrines and a whole load of scholars and warriors, instead of shrinking away from the opening portals, are lining up to fight the beasts and study. They see this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make something of themselves."

Martin was suddenly alarmed. "You mean the gates are opening in Morrowind?"

"Everywhere, I understand."

He groaned and sank in his chair. Baurus frowned. "So, how do you come into our plan?"

"I'm to help in Operation GSS. I've got the fastest feet in the Morrowind Thieves Guild, and I understand there's going to be a race to the Sigil Stone. I'll be accompanying the Heroes of Kvatch into the Great Gate, in case something goes wrong, we have a greater chance of getting the stone the more people that go in. Of course," he got a sad twinkle in his eye, "we won't be able to look out for each other. It's every man for himself, or else we'll take far too long."

Ice, riveted by every word the elf said, nodded in blind consent before realizing what he meant. "Wait, what?"

"We'll have to fight for ourselves. Didn't Jauffre mention this?"

All eyes went to Jauffre, most of them glaring, as he smiled, embarrassed. "I was getting to that part."

"When is this Operation GSS?" Crow said in a quiet voice, his hood up and over his eyes, his body seeming to want to fuse with the chair.

"Tomorrow morning. I suggest a full night's sleep before the big day."

* * *

_Nightshade was walking, a heat wave of determination spreading through her mind. The robes she wore swayed with every step, her auburn hair bouncing with the light breeze. She was in Cheydinhal, in an area she had never been in before, and yet, it felt so familiar._

_Thoughts that were not her own flowed through her. She felt enlightened, almost excited, at her own spiritual emotions. For the first time in her life she understood what she had to do, understood that her whole life was wrong. She had known it, but never understood it. Killing, killing was what made her weak, not the fact that she had thrown up when she had to kill the baby in the cradle, not the fact that she couldn't slit the throat of the dying grandmother. She was under the command of those at the top of the Black Hand, the Fingers, as they were called, and her own lust for killing. She was a slave, a lowly Silencer, to them. But no longer would she kill whoever they told her to kill. It would be her choice now on. It had to be._

_When her thoughts cleared Nightshade realized that the body of Dalkai Laneth had led her straight to a well, which she climbed down with stealth and ease. As she entered the secret lair, a sense of homeliness and sadness filled her. She knew, that after today, she would never return to her home. And she was willing to make that sacrifice._

"_Arquen will see you now."_

_She followed a Wood Elf down deeper into the lair, the darkness growing, but she wasn't scared. The darkness was her life, her light._

_She entered the hall, her eyes adjusting, and nodded a greeting to a tall woman in similar black robes as herself. Her eyes were cold and hard, and normally they would cause her to proceed with caution, but Dalkai wasn't scared anymore. "I've been courteous to you, so be curt to me."_

"_We aren't happy, Dalkai."_

_She snorted. "Really? I hadn't noticed."_

"_You used to be our protégé; we used to have such high hopes."_

"_It did you no good."_

"_The Brotherhood had just come out of dark times when you joined."_

"_I was recruited, like a common soldier."_

"_Why do you have such hatred for your family?"_

"_I don't hate my family," Dalkai leaned on the wall of the hall, slightly enjoying this. "I always disliked you, however, and how you would boss us around, tell us what to do, who to kill, and not even why."_

"_Not this again."_

"_Yes, this again. For ten years I've been here, and I'm still a Silencer. I'm one of the best in the business and yet I'm hardly paid enough. I am sick of being a dog to the Black Hand, to, to this Night Mother, to my own demons. How do we know the Night Mother exists, or that she is even good?"_

_Arquen shook her head. "It doesn't matter why, Dalkai, or if _She _is good. We are alike, kin to each other. We took you in off the streets—"_

"_So? I was a confused child, lonely and scared, armed with a soul I didn't understand. Well, now I do. If I was created to kill, let my kills be _my _kills, not the Dark Brotherhood's. I have finally found my purpose, and that is to be just."_

"_What do you plan to do? Join the army?" Arquen was now only about arm's reach away from Dalkai, a suspicious gleam in her eyes. She, however, smirked. "I'm not sure, but I know that it doesn't involve you."_

"_You do realize I can't let you go through with this treason?"_

"_I imagined as much. Just like you killed innocent Lucien Lachance you want to kill me. Your methods and reasons for killing are so… so… juvenile."_

"_I'm sorry it had to end this way; you had promise."_

"_I'm not." And simultaneously within a moment she hissed a paralyzing spell and shot out her arm before Arquen could react, her trusty Flameblade slashing the throat of its target with incredible aim. "Remember, Arquen," Dalkai grabbed the collar of her robe while she stared, wild-eyed and frantic, as the Imperial took her dagger from her robe, "it was you that created me and destroyed yourself."_

* * *

As the band of heroes was getting ready for Operation GSS that morning, Nightshade didn't have the heart to tell her friends about her dream. In fact, her heart felt like it was in her throat.

Everyone was solemn, nervous, and yet excited. The band knew that many of Blades, with odd high hopes, would never see Cloud Ruler Temple ever again.

They all marched down the mountain towards Bruma. Ice was adorned in his usual chainmail and black robes and two daggers, and was, for the most part, mysteriously quiet the whole trip. Elyon no longer wore her fur armor but instead was in full Orcish armor, fresh from the blacksmith; she had made sure Richu and Silver would stay at the temple. Crow, too, had changed, and wore golden, lavish Elven armor that Nightshade couldn't help but laugh at. "This better save my life," he had growled as Elyon was helping him into it. Ash was in odd armor, some of it metal, and some of it a green glass. He said it was very flexible and light. Nightshade herself had chosen wisely, while having nothing else anyway, to wear her new Mithril suit.

But Martin topped them all. Being leader of Operation GSS, Jauffre had insisted that he look at least half godly. So, he was in the Armor of Tiber Septim, the armor from Sancre Tor that would be partially used to open a portal to Paradise. It was a marvelous gold, with red jewels that glimmered in the sunlight. It brought out his chest and the muscles he had gained over the last few weeks. He, however contrary to the truth, was very meek and modest as people complimented him. Instead of leading them proudly in front with his head held high he stared at the ground as if it would swallow him on his command.

"It'll be ok," Nightshade, walking beside him, tried to lighten his spirits. "Everything will turn out well. It'll be over in no time."

He sighed as Ice slid up next to him. "Yeah. We've handled plenty of gates before."

"It's not just that. I mean… I can't stop thinking about the people that will die. And Kvatch… Kvatch is the only real experience I have and I still have nightmares about it. I'm—I'm too much of a coward, too scared to lead them into battle. I can't stand death."

"I don't think most people do," Nightshade was biting her lip while trying to think of a way to bring his spirits up. If he was this depressed there was no way the soldiers would fight well.

"Well, if it's any consolation, with Ashen and the others in the gate we'll be done in no time. Just have some faith. Pray, if you have to."

Bruma's large gates appeared in front of them sooner than they would've liked. Martin was forced to enter first, with Jauffre and Baurus behind him, followed by the Heroes of Kvatch and Ashen, and then the lucky chosen Blades that would fight for the Empire.

The snowy streets were crowded with people that broke out into fierce cheering and parted a path for the arrivals. Nightshade didn't even know that there were so many people in Bruma.

Martin looked dumbstruck as he walked by, whatever nervousness he didn't have before creeping into him like poisonous air. Jauffre put his hand on his shoulder in case he decided to faint, or worse yet, run away in embarrassment.

They were steered into the Great Chapel of Talos, where an Imperial woman dressed in steel armor and her guard captain were waiting patiently for the procession. Nightshade recognized Achilles emerging from the shadows behind the woman for a better look.

"Countess Carvain," Jauffre nodded in greeting, "are we ready?"

"Yes," she eyed Martin with scrutiny. "What's the plan?"

"Well, Martin will give a speech to motivate the soldiers, then we wait for the gates to open. When they do, we fight. Then, the Great Gate should open, and Nightshade, Crow, Ice, and Ash will dash into it and get the stone."

Ice looked a little surprised. "What about Elyon?"

"I'm staying behind to heal people. I'm a greater help here than in there."

There was a silence before Carvain cleared her throat. "Well, shall we get this over with?"

They all shuffled out, practically pushing a stage-frightened Martin in front of them. He almost yelped when he saw all the people gathered near the chapel, cheering him, crying, "Martin Septim! Our future emperor! Our hope!" They died down as he stared at them.

"Quick, say your speech before something bad happens," Ice prodded.

Wide-eyed, Martin glanced around for support, and Jauffre nodded. He meekly turned to the audience, cleared his throat, and said, "Hello."

More cheers erupted from the one word. "Thank you," he smiled sheepishly. "I would like to thank all of you for being so supportive of our plan. We must go through this horror before it can end, and hopefully it will be the only horror you'll all ever have to face. The guards are brave men and women from all over Cyrodiil, and one from Morrowind. Without them, this wouldn't work. This will not be easy, but it won't take all day. Yes, Mehrunes Dagon is a serious and dangerous threat, and many of you will sacrifice your lives so others may live to carry your legacy on. Good luck."

The cheers started again, although not as heartily as before, and the others headed out of the gates of the city. All the guards and Blades marched ahead, their heads high, their faces stern and emotionless. All the other voices seemed to mix into each other, were far away, as their thoughts went from being heroes in Bruma to saving the world and possibly dying in the process.

Martin briskly made his way to the front, followed by Jauffre, Baurus, and all those going into the gate. He stopped as the ground began to rumble. They were by the base of the mountain, on flatland north of Bruma, and out of the rocks the gate emerged in all its glory and fire. The sides grew like two horns from a minotaur, and the portal in the middle appeared like a webby netting in between. And then the Daedra came.

"Attack!" Martin unsheathed his sword, his adrenaline pumping, and they all charged down into the flatland, meeting whatever Daedra they came across. Martin decapitated a Clannfear, its blood spraying onto Baurus next to him who went into combat with Jauffre and a large dragon-like Daedroth. Ashen had held back and was shooting arrows. Crow was casting spells against a spidery-like creature with little spiders in its command. He blasted them with frost spells, which seemed to be working rather well. Nightshade and Ice were fighting back to back against Dremora that seemed to refuse to die. Their swords would clash dramatically with the Dremora's before they would turn counter-clockwise and slash with incredible speed.

When the second gate opened even more Daedra poured out. Everyone was engaged in combat now. Swords clashed with scales and skin while teeth chomped through armor and magic whizzed through the air. And when the third gate opened many were very overwhelmed. Nightshade, Ice, and Crow found themselves teamed up against a fiery, almost humanoid demon, a Daedroth, and two Clannfears. Crow took on the Daedroth with a katana that he had taken from the armory in the Temple. He managed to intercept its long jaws by trapping the katana between its teeth diagonally. Nightshade slashed at the two Clannfears with the Goldbrand, doing a rather good job before one slashed at her shoulder and caused the chain-mail-like Mithril to rip at her arm. Ice was blocking the fiery demon's fireballs with weak shielding spells and used the small intervals between them to slash at it.

And then it finally happened. With a great rumble that seemed to turn into a roar in everyone's ears two terrible horn-like protrusions thrust themselves from the ground, towering over the three other gates and glowing fiercely like fresh lava. The Great gate had finally arrived.

"Quick!" Crow shouted, "We have to get going!"

With newfound adrenalin Crow, Ice, and Ashen ran through the amassing crowd of primarily Daedra. Nightshade followed them, but was beginning to feel aware of a strange tiredness she had never experienced in their other battles. It seemed like everything was taking up more energy than usual. When she reached the Great gate she tripped on some sort of limb and fell face-first into the mud, expecting to be trampled, but instead someone pushed her up from the shoulders. It was Martin, his face glowing with exploding courage and the rush of battle, his eyes shining with concern and yet seemed distant and old. There was warmth in his voice as he pushed a vial in her hands and said, "Hurry, but be careful."

"Thanks," she nodded, and under other circumstances she might have noticed more than just energy pulsing through Martin as he watched her and prayed, for the first time in a long time, with all his heart for her safety.


	28. Chapter 28: Operation GSS

Chapter 28: Operation GSS

It certainly didn't take Nightshade a few seconds to forget Martin's encounter entirely.

The four of them had entered onto a narrow island, its insides gutted out by a pool of lava. To both the right and left were two connecting towers, and in between the square was a giant, maggot-like machine with fire and claws for a head crawling towards them in the lava pool. A team of about five Dremora was guarding the gate and ready for them when they arrived. Ashen, a step ahead of everyone, shouted, "Run!" and proceeded to do so to the west tower. Nightshade quickly downed the potion Martin gave her and followed Ice to the opposite tower.

They all ran like mice in a deadly obstacle course, unsure of where they were heading exactly. There were only two routes to take, which were in the towers, and the split-second logic was that if they were connected, then they could be connected to the Citadel behind the siege crawler. The running wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't running up the spiral inclines of the towers.

The potion had given Nightshade new strength as she backed up Ice in slashing anything that got in their way, but by the time they had gotten across the bridge to the next tower she was tired again. When it became clear the bridge to the Citadel was not only below at ground level but also broken and sinking in lava she let out a groan and leaned against a wall to steady herself.

"Come on," Ice prodded her, "we're running out of time!"

"I can't. I'm so out of breath."

"Oh, come on, this is a piece of pie. We're going down-hill."

"No, I don't think I can. Go on without me; I'm only slowing you down."

Ice took a step back, gravely considered leaving her there, and then changed his mind. "No, I can't do this by myself."

"Don't be stupid, Ice."

"I'm not being stupid. Deadly, they're going to catch up at any second. Please let's go!"

But it was too late. Dremora were beginning to climb up the tower, clinking with armor and flanked by Daedroths like hounds to the hunt. Fear pulsed through Ice and, without thinking, turned himself invisible and ran further up.

If it was anyone but Ice Nightshade might have felt resentment at being left to die, but her tiredness left her to only feel afraid and think about the task at hand as they came up and surrounded her. She knew she was Ice's only chance at success.

The Daedroth, at first, ran at her, but a sharp order from a Kynmarcher put them in place and Nightshade recognized who he was. It was none other than Eclixirz, but he had changed. He stood taller and his armor made him more muscular. There was a calculated coldness in his eyes that had intensified greatly since they last saw Nightshade. Next to him was a Dremora in blue robes with a less severe face and a look more fascinated than angry.

Eclixirz snarled in genuine hatred, "Down on your knees."

"It's you," she said.

"Yes, it is I, newly appointed Markynaz Eclixirz, one of the few Dremora to meet you and your" –he inhaled and said with strain— "_friends _and manage not to get vaporized. If you think, too, the only battles I've fought are the ones with you, you are wrong." He laughed hoarsely.

Nightshade glared at him half-heartedly. "And yet you still have an ego the size of Cyrodiil."

He grimaced and slapped her. Before she could fully recover he put his heavy gauntlet on the back of her neck and began to search along its base. He then suddenly smiled and leaned into her face.

"It looks like someone has done half my job for me. Now, I will truly enjoy this." He stood upright and, without much warning, kicked her in the stomach. The Daedroths howled and became restless as Eclixirz proceeded to beat Nightshade. He stomped on her, punched her face, ripped and kicked at her armor, and when he realized he wasn't getting the response he wanted, he ordered the other Dremora to join in.

"Stupid human, fight back!"

At this point Nightshade had become unconscious, and then a brilliant idea came to the blue-robed Dremora. "What if she needs a kick-start?"

"What do you mean? We just gave her one."

"No, I mean what if we gave her power from the Stone?

Eclixirz scowled for a moment. "That sounds dangerous, Kynreeve Rax."

"But it could work."

He stared down in disgust at poor Nightshade whose face was swelling up. "Fine, but only because this clearly isn't working. Kynaz, pick this pathetic meat-sack up. We'll take her to the Citadel."

* * *

To say Ashen and Crow were having a hell of a time would be putting it lightly. Most of the Daedra were gathered in the western towers, which is how they figured they were going in the right direction. Using their speeding momentum to slash into them or push them off the incline they got to the second tower surprisingly fast. It was then Crow noticed Ice and Nightshade weren't with them.

"We have to go back," he called to Ashen as he pushed a terrible-looking scamp to its death in spikes below.

"There's no time. Don't worry they'll be fine."

Crow suddenly began to grow hot. "They're not as strong as us, Ashen. They can die."

"Do what you like, but we agreed to fend for ourselves. We're here on a mission and it has to be carried out." He was about to start running again when Crow quietly, yet severely, said, "Just like you left Sayura to die."

The master thief stopped in his tracks and turned slowly. "What did you just say?"

"I said you left Sayura to die, too."

With sudden speed he went up to Crow's face, stern and angry. "And what do you know of my little girl, heathen?"

Crow fought himself not to strike his father-in-law. He had been treated this way his whole life in Morrowind by dunmer like him, dunmer that looked down upon Clan-born elves and had convinced themselves their ancestry lied within the halls of the Great Houses or, worse, within the empire. But Ashen's anger was different and lied within his personal demons, and Crow didn't know the right way to deal with this. He longed for Ashen to know and accept the truth, so without realizing he blurted, "I'm your son-in-law."

Ashen blinked as he let the news sink in and stood down. For a moment he suddenly looked old and sad as memories of his little girl flooded his mind, and memories of the pain when she left, and then the heartbreak after her death that never mended. "How do I know it's true?"

"You can ask Elyon. She was our organizer for the wedding."

Ashen took another few seconds to gain his bearings and then nodded. "Alright. But on one condition."

"What?"

"We leave fate alone and keep going without turning back."

Sounds of more Daedra coming up the tower reached them. Crow held his breath, and then growled, "Fine," before lifting his sword and charging into battle.

* * *

Kynmarcher Eclixirz led Kynreeve Rax and the rest of his entourage to the Citadel dragging Nightshade in the red dust in hopes of reviving her. "Damn it Rax if this doesn't work you will be the one squealing in agony when this is over."

Rax wasn't listening. He was staring at the prisoner curiously. "I cannot believe this is her."

"Well, it is. I should know."

Rax had meant the statement rhetorically but didn't care that Eclixirz took it personally. "How can such a small body house such a great force?"

"I don't know," Eclixirz had found Rax annoying from the very start mostly out of his own selfish pride, but he knew Rax was more knowledgeable than he was. That was why he tolerated him during this important mission.

As they were climbing the Citadel a Kynval came to inform them that the siege crawler was making excellent progress and that two elves had been found in the northwest tower.

"Did you kill them?" Eclixirz demanded.

"No, they disappeared outside the Citadel."

Without hesitation and with a terrible cry the Kynmarcher unsheathed his sword and slashed it straight into the Kynval's skull. All he had time for was an astonished face before his soul was cast back.

"Incompetent bastards!" he yelled at no one in particular. "Rax, take a few Xivilai and get her to the Stone. Quickly, you loathsome idiots! The rest of you fools, search the Citadel and if they aren't found and killed before the siege crawler gets through I will torture you all myself!"

* * *

Ice had tried his best to follow Eclixirz's entourage, but once they entered the Citadel the amount of Dremora around made it extremely difficult. Twice he was almost stepped on, and several times a head turned in his direction before deciding there was nothing in the dark. When that happened he had to stand still for several minutes to be convincing, but that was how he lost Nightshade.

He was trying his best to concentrate on his spell, but seeing Nightshade get beat up had shaken him up very badly. The incident had brought up the memory of his parent's death and being helpless then, too. He at first simply felt sick, but once it was over he felt a burning inside of him that turned into both hatred and self-contempt at the same time, one for the attackers and one for his own cowardice.

Unsure of where to go, Ice wandered the Citadel looking for any ways up the tower. The layout was very confusing, leading him down twisting halls into strange torture rooms and inclined spirals that seemed to lead mostly down than up. Several times he had to back track.

And then he found a curious room. Around it were various pillars. It had a semi-circle of benches surrounding an alter and shrine of some sort at its far end. The alter was flanked by two fountains of what looked to be blood.

Ice inspected the shrine, unable to recognize it and bet that his parents could have. He ran his fingers over the alter, almost forgetting the haste of the mission, wondering what sort of horrible rituals they performed on it before realizing he really didn't want to know.

A quiet footstep of clanking metal snapped him back to reality. He turned to see Kynmarcher Eclixirz sneaking carefully in, his claymore in his hands ready to slice open any human. Ice froze.

"Come out, human, I know you're here," he snarled. All Ice heard was a series of harsh growls but that was enough. He slowly began to move away from the alter.

The Kynmarcher was getting closer to him but wasn't fully facing him. "I know you're here," he repeated.

When the Kynmarcher searched the shadows near a fountain Ice felt his spell wearing off. In a flash Ice ran to a pillar near a corner of a wall, but it was too late. Eclixirz turned on the balls of his heels and ran towards the sound of footsteps swinging his sword. Ice knew he was trapped.

"Found you," he sneered, and Ice lamely blocked himself with his knives.

But the blow never came. He opened his eyes to see the Kynmarcher, once again, crumble to his death as a shiny claymore stuck out of his chest and reveal Crow and Ashen standing, drenched in sweat and blood.

"Thank the gods," Crow said quickly. "Where's Nightshade?"

"They took her, probably to the top again."

"Right. Let's go."

* * *

The way to the Great Sigil Stone's Sigillum Sanguis wasn't far from where Rax left. He went up the World Breaker and entered the room.

The Great Sigil Stone was about twice the size of any of the other Sigil Stones Nightshade had collected. It commanded a pillar of fire behind it greater than any of the others before, and the heat emanated was that of a good bonfire.

As Rax walked up to it he talked to Nightshade, not caring about the Xivilai. "Your majesty, I hope you don't take this all too personally. We had to do it, you see. Remember Rax was the one who saved you, not Eclixirz. He's stupid and selfish but I have risen above that. I would make a great advisor to you, or even just a Valkynaz. That would be an honor."

They reached the stone and the Xivilai hauled Nightshade up to her feet as best as they could. Rax held her limp arms. "Don't let go of her until she wakes up," he told his servants before adding to Nightshade, "Remember Rax." He placed her palms onto the stone.

The stone suddenly began to sizzle, and the fiery vortex behind it began to roar and grow faster. Rax's eyes grew wide as Nightshade's fingertips and hair began to glow. The Xivilai were growing hot, and when they couldn't take it anymore they let go. As she lost contact the stone let forth a burst of flames before she fell to the ground.

"How dare you!" Rax hissed at them, but then he saw her move. She coughed up a bit of blood onto the floor as she propped herself on her arms, still facing the stone. Her breathing was heavy, as if she hadn't breathed in a long time.

"Your majesty," he said almost timidly, "how do you feel?"

She lifted her hand and inspected it in the glow of the stone. Rax was uneasy and went closer. He touched her shoulder, unable to see her face. "Your majesty?"

At the simple touch the girl turned and jumped on Rax with the speed and agility of something unworldly. It was so sudden he fell on his back with Nightshade pinning him down on his chest. The Xivilai moved away as she proceeded to, with her own teeth and hands, rip his throat out. He screamed as best as he could, but did nothing to stop her.

Once she had done she turned to face the Xivilai. They were nervous but didn't run as she realized she still had a sword and began to swing it at them menacingly.

At the moment she decided to chop their heads off Crow, Ashen, and Ice came into the Sigillum Sanguis. All they saw were heads being thrown off the top level.

There was no time to think. "Nightshade," Crow called, "grab the stone!"

She contemplated for a moment, ran it all through her head, for it was no longer Nightshade who inhabited her body but something else, something powerful and terrible. It was bent on killing, killing everything because it was finally free, free from the mind of a little girl. But what it wanted more than bloodshed was power, and it wondered if taking the Great Sigil Stone would give it more. In a dumb frenzy it leapt for it.

The transition from Oblivion into reality was different this time. It seemed to happen in an explosion of light rather than vortex of fire like the other gates. It knocked the three elves below over, but when they opened their eyes, sore and bloody, they were back in Bruma.

* * *

It was an awesome sight to see for the soldiers and guards fighting in the snow. They had been down to half their men still able to fight but, thanks to Elyon and the city's healers, not as many bodies were lying lifeless on the ground. Adrenaline had replaced hope and valor long ago in everyone's minds, and Martin found it difficult to hold up a sword. He was standing next to Baurus and was vaguely aware of Jauffre a few meters away.

Suddenly the head of the siege crawler came piercing out of the Great gate, and despair began to fill every human being. It was over. They had lost. Martin dropped his sword and fell to his knees. No, no, no…

And then it happened. It was a great rumble at first, and then a horrible shriek. Everyone seemed to stop and stare, even the Daedra. The gate was closing in on the siege crawler, cutting it in half, and then all the gates closed simultaneously, taking the remaining Daedra with them. There was a lot of smoke, and the snow seemed to catch on fire, and then all was quiet.

Martin, who had been watching in awe while everyone else blocked themselves from the blast, stood up with his mouth agape. Out from behind the rubble of the crawler like god-like saviors came Ice and Ashen, blinking at the new light and looking bewilderingly at the still-standing army. Martin began to feel good again until Crow came out carrying an unconscious Nightshade in his arms. She, in turn, was hugging a glowing Great Sigil Stone, and seemed to be glowing herself.

Jauffre reacted instantly. "We need to get her inside the city now."

A path was quickly made through the army. As Crow practically ran to the city gates his mind began to clear. He glanced down at Nightshade and immediately shivered. Although energy seemed to surge through her, her face, now more red than black, had the eerie and almost angelic complexion of a fresh corpse.


	29. Chapter 29: Sweet Darkness

Chapter 29: Sweet Darkness

Darkness, sweet darkness. She was swimming in it, her mind clear and free and not thinking about anything in particular. There were no memories, no pain, no pleasure, just the feeling of pure freedom.

And then she felt herself walking, walking on nothing, and memories of who she was came back to her. Her name was Nightshade, and she had been beaten to death by a ruthless dremora; for some reason that hardly surprised her.

As she walked the darkness began to give way to a red mist, and as soon as she gained vision like a dream she realized she was walking down a hallway. Fear set in her stomach as she recognized where she was, but she didn't stop walking. Whatever weakness she had had back in the Great gate wasn't with her anymore.

The hallway was black and cold and lined with doors on both sides. _I must be in some sort of hell, because this is too real to be a dream,_ she thought. Carefully she opened a door only to see pitch darkness. _I have all of eternity to get through all these doors; might as well start with this one._

As the door closed behind her she began to make out light. She stood outside the Bloodworks of the Arena on a beautiful and busy day with a small knife in her pocket she had stolen from Ysabel Andronicus earlier. She was almost six years old and had very basic rules to life: don't be noticed by the adults to avoid a whipping, always save a bit of food for later, prove to the other kids that she wasn't just a little girl, and never show anyone the amulet she wore.

The choice of memory surprised Nightshade because she had forgotten most of it. In fact what could be called her childhood years were a blur of pain to her. There was no clear, concise memory before hitting puberty, and all she remembered of this one was that later that night she was suspected and found out for stealing the knife. But the clarity now, the breeze in the air, the ramblings of the Arena district, the sun hitting her body swaddled in poor ill-fitting clothes, were all too real as she headed suspiciously to the Talos Plaza district.

As she walked Nightshade was dimly aware of another presence next to her. A little girl's voice asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I want revenge on that bastard." She had overheard the word so many times it came naturally.

"I told you I don't like it when you talk like that. Nightshade, he didn't know what he was talking about."

"Yeah right."

"He's a rich snotty kid who wouldn't know what hard work is if it hit him in the face with a shovel."

"Don't care. I'm going to punish him."

Something hand-like touched her shoulder. "Please Nightshade, don't be cruel." She turned to face the entity expecting to see a little girl but instead only saw a white blur of a person. There was no face, no features, no clothes. It was her imagination talking to her, and the six-year-old Nightshade knew it too but she played along anyway because she had no friends. Her name for it came to her: Yuri. Yuri the Pure.

Young Nightshade thought about this and then made up her mind. "I'm going whether you like it or not." She turned back onto her course and quickened her pace towards the Talos Plaza. She knew exactly where her victim lived, had studied some of his habits and knew he would be returning home by himself at that time.

It wasn't hard to get the boy to notice her. He was about two years older than her, dressed in rich attire, and strangely looked like a younger, blonde version of Martin. However, the pouty sneer that he adorned on his face at the sight of her dispelled the resemblance.

"It's you."

"I heard what you said about me."

He put on airs. "Like I care. I wanted you to hear it, just so you knew it was true."

Her blood began to boil. "You'll pay."

Nightshade didn't know it then but the boy had never been in a fist fight ever in his life because he had never needed to do it. The other children respected him out of fear and awe for his social status and knew to steer clear of him. So when little Nightshade charged at him with her knife he didn't even think to use the books he was carrying as a shield and she managed to slice open his upper left arm and ruin the sleeve of his elegant shirt.

This was the only decent shot Nightshade got in. The boy was inexperienced, but so was she, and she was a lot weaker than him. He knocked the knife out of her hand and a great scramble ensued to simply get some sort of hurt in from pulling hair to biting to punching. People who were walking by were horrified, but only one distinguished lady interfered and pulled them apart. Nightshade's nose was bleeding and her eye was swelling, but she twisted herself out of the lady's grasp and ran as if demons were chasing her. All she had given to the boy were red scratch marks on his neck and a slight bruise on his cheek.

Nightshade ran straight for the Green Emperor's Way, the physical pain less than the mental hurt still throbbing in her head the boy had inflicted a few days before. He and his mother went to visit the Arena to collect some winnings from a previous match, and he had the audacity to point at Nightshade and exclaim, "By the gods, mother, that is the ugliest Dark Elf I have ever seen." Tears of anger welled into her eyes, and she didn't see while she ran away to hide his mother smack him behind his head and say, "Have some manners."

In Green Emperor's Way she slid behind a grave close to the city wall and into a sort of burrow made by grave robbers who had been caught long ago digging up a body no one cared about. She had modified their hole using a cooking pan as a shovel and had made a snug home fit for her and Yuri to hide in when the world was tough thanks to the large bush growing directly above it.

Nightshade curled up with her elbows and knees hiding her face. Yuri had her arm around her in a maternal way. "It's alright, Nightshade, it's going to be ok."

After sniveling for a while she replied. "It's not ok. It'll never be ok."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because the world hates me."

"It doesn't hate you. I don't hate you."

Nightshade looked up where Yuri's face should've been as she continued. Her voice seemed to mature suddenly. "You are a special, powerful girl. You have both the power to be kind and the power to be a demon."

"What do you mean?"

"You're scared, Nightshade, to show people your good side because all you see in them is their bad side, thanks to living in the arena. You need to face your fears and be kind, so you don't end up like them, living all alone and miserable."

"So what? Who cares how I feel?"

"I care."

She was silent for a while, thinking, and then said, "Why do I get so angry?"

"Because of your inner demon."

"Does everyone have one?"

"Yes, but yours manifests without control. And I fear one day it will control you." Warmth radiated from her. "Nightshade, I won't be around like this forever, and although I will always be a part of you, one day you'll forget..."

Yuri's voice had trailed off and she seemed to be looking into the distance. Finally, she quietly spoke. "I fear that the poison of human cruelty will weaken the kind part of your soul. These people here, though legally your guardians, should not be taking care of you. Oh Nightshade! If you only knew what greatness you are capable of, what blood flows in your veins, what demons lie in your soul. You have your whole life ahead of you, and no awareness of it. You sleep and dream of a better life rather than actually live it."

And then Yuri seemed to mentally reach out to Nightshade as if she could stare into the little girl and see the teenager through time. "They'll get you, Nightshade, and release your terrible power. They'll make you rip apart your friends and foes alike, all because of your blood, in the name of Destruction. You must learn to control it without me using the kindness and love in your heart."

Nightshade was aware that her younger self had fallen to sleep behind her, but her present self was still awake. Yuri reached out and touched her hair and caressed her head in a motherly way. "I wish I could be there, my dear. I wish I could've always been there."

And then sweet darkness.

* * *

Nightshade opened her eyes, at first numb and almost happy but then incredibly sore all over. The dream, if that was what it was, had left a pleasant and relieving impression on her, as if an old secret that had haunted her forever was revealed. She then noticed that, once again, she was lying flat on her back in a cathedral.

As she sat up she realized that she was not the only person lying in there. The Bruma cathedral had turned into a crude hospital housing the wounded soldiers. Many were groaning in agony and agitation while healers scuttled about them. She looked around for Elyon's Orcish armor, but instead noticed a rather excited woman skipping over the wounded on the ground and bounding towards her. It took a moment to recognize the transformed, and much happier, Countess Carvain.

"Nightshade, my hero, you're awake!" she grinned as she crouched to her side. Nightshade could smell a faint odor of alcohol in her breath. "Our Hero of Kvatch returns to the land of the living, or should we call you Hero of Bruma? By the Nine, might as well start calling you Hero of Cyrodiil!" She laughed heartily. "I wanted to be the first to see you because I, personally, want to thank you, from the bottom of Bruma's hearts, for everything you've done, and invite you to our great celebration! Everyone's invited! It'll be like a great festival! No one can resist free drinks!" There were murmurs of agreement from the soldiers who were still conscious.

She looked up at the Countess, who looked very pleased, with confusion. "Shouldn't you be focusing on rebuilding and gathering strength?"

"What? Oh, all that can wait leave it to me. But no, tonight we celebrate until dawn! Gods, isn't it good to be alive?" Carvain seemed to practically dance out over the patients like a fairy, and for a split moment Nightshade agreed with her.


End file.
